Keeper of Hearts Lion Heart
by Mizuki Ichigo
Summary: Ever since Rinoa passed away Leon became a changed man, when a new stranger with questionable connections to Kingdom Hearts and an uncanny resemblance to her appears, he begins to question himself as to whether he truly lost her.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, this is my first KH fan fic, so bear with me...just testing out the waters before the deep dive. This is semi-based on the KH II game plot line...

* * *

He never knew what happened, he never knew how it happened, but he just realized that he could never live without her. Never in his whole life did he ever have such a clear and pure knowledge that she was the one, his partner… his love… his soul… his life…

That was, till the day she was taken away from him, forever lost to him, just so that she can save his life. The day they came, the heartless, they fought and battled but it was no use, they consumed their world…

"Squall! Go!"

"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU!"

"Squall, please you can't stop them on your own."

"Rinoa! I'm not leaving you!"

"I'm sorry…"

Squall suddenly froze in his steps and suddenly turned around towards the last gummy ship and was magically forced to run towards the ship that held: Aerith Gainsborough, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Tifa Lockhart and was piloted by Cid Highwind.

"NO! Rinoa, Don't! I love you! Please!"

"Squall, I will always love you, but I want to protect those that I love, and now is my chance."

"Rinoa, NO!"

When Squall eventually got in the gummy ship, Cid took off just as Squall regained the use of his limbs, a bright white light burst from Rinoa; it engulfed her and the whole world and the world suddenly blew up, the force of the explosion, knocking the gummy ship around and rendering the occupants unconscious…

The last thing that Squall could remember hearing was:

"I want you to be happy Squall, I love you…"

* * *

Leon woke up with at start; _I'm dreaming that again, why? It's been so long…Rinoa…_

"Leon! Breakfast!" called out Aerith from the downstairs kitchen, the smell of Aerith's famous pancakes fully waking Leon and his reverie. He shrugged off the sheets and stumbled towards his bathroom...

* * *

"Hey! Those were mine!"

"They were on my plate!"

"Sooo?! Your name is not on them so finders keepers!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Ewww, yuk! Fine, you eat those, since they have your spit all over them"

Leon winced as he came down the stairs when he heard the end of the argument that Yuffie and Sora had over Aerith's pancakes, _Jeez, great way to start the morning…_

"Good Morning Leon!" said a cheerful Aerith, "Sora, there's more than enough pancakes so don't worry about Yuffie eating them all"

"More in eon!"

"Yuffie! Don't talk with your mouthful!"

"Leon" said Cid with a nod

"Morning everyone" said Leon in his usual cool voice with a nod towards Cid and Cloud, "Cloud, where's Tifa?"

"She needed to go out or something, what did she say Aerith?"

"Oh, Tifa, wanted to go out for a jog before breakfast. Why do you ask, Leon?" asked a curious Aerith

"It's nothing."

"Speak of the devil! Tifa! Good morning! Have a seat, how was your jog? I hope you're hungry; I made enough pancakes to feed an army."

"My jog was great, oh thanks!"

"Hi-yuk, these pancakes are really good!" said Goofy

"Yeah, their great!" said Donald

"Thank you, Donald and Goofy, So what is everyone up to today?"

"Oh! We're going to explore the Deep Depths." Said Sora

"Humph, I'll be fixing all the damage you did to your gummy ship." Said Cid as he pointedly looked at Sora, who gave a sheepish grin at Cid and Donald

"We're going shopping right Aerith? Yuffie, you and Cloud are coming too-

"Aww shopping is boring! Right Cloud?!"

"…"

"Cloud!?"

"Anyways…Leon you wanna come with us?" asked Tifa

"…No…you guys can go ahead."

* * *

After Breakfast everyone broke into their corresponding groups, Leon was strolling through the Bailey lost in his thoughts: _what does this mean…its been at least four years since that day our world was lost…I've always been missing you…Rinoa…why?_

"So this is what you're doing?"

"Cloud." Said a Leon in a calm voice as he turned around to face the man, _damn when did he get here?_

"Are you thinking about her?"

"Who?"

"……Rinoa……Tifa, Yuffie and Aerith told me about her…I'm sorry" said Cloud as he walked towards Leon who was standing near a balcony

"……No…it's…alright…" Leon turned to look at the large expanse of Hollow Bastion, and leaned on the ledge, "……Cloud….thanks…"

Cloud turned towards Leon, looking at him curiously and he leaned down on the ledge right next to Leon, enjoying the comfortable silence in comparison to the bustle and the nagging and the "look Cloud, isn't that cute" and the "Cloud, you'd look simply charming in this" he'd get when he was around the "Triple Threat" as he so lovingly calls Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie.

"So, you got away from the Triple Threat, huh…shopping not your thing Mr. Strife?" said Leon jokingly

"Heh, they were planning to get me this pink shirt…"

"Oh?" said Leon as he turned and looked at Cloud, imagining him in a pink shirt and little pink bows tied in his blond spikes that Yuffie for sure would try on Cloud if he ever let his guard down…

"Hey! Stop imagining me in pink!" said Cloud as he jokingly punched Leon on the shoulder

"Well you would look very **pretty** in pink, you know Cloudy…"

"What did you say?!"

"Cloudy."

"So your really itching for a fight huh, Lionhead?" said Cloud as he removed his sword off of his back

"You could say that, Cloudster" said Leon as he pulled out his gunblade and backed away from the ledge.

"Shall we say whoever loses their weapon has to go shopping with the Triple Threat next week?"

"Alrigh-

A yell suddenly sounded out of the Deep Depths, followed by a metal clanging sound, the two men looked at each other with the same thought running through their heads: Sora fighting heartless around….

* * *

Sooo, what do ya think? Please let me know...good/bad/ugly? 


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks, for the review, this is a re-edited version of chapter two, I do not own KH or KH II or FFVII: AC Tetsuya Nomura does...

* * *

"FIREGA!"

"Take that!"

"Ow Ow Ow!"

"Hi-yuk! Sora look out!" Just as Goofy warned Sora, as blast of purple light destroyed the last heartless that was about to pounce on the keybearer.

"Huh? Wha-wha-what happened?"

"Your fast, but not fast enough, kid" said a voice from the shadows of a nearby cave

"What?! Show yourself you big palooka!" called out Donald, raising his staff

"Whoa, calm down there, Ducky, we don't want you to be spitting feathers now." A young woman came out from the shadows; she was wearing a forest green cloak with the hood up, her long ebony black hair framing her delicate features and full lips and warm brown eyes.

"DUCKY?!" yelled Donald as Goofy restrained him from attacking the stranger

"Who are you?" said a still wary Sora, but he slightly lowered his keyblade

"Yeah!"

"Don't be so rude, Ducky; I'm neither a friend nor a foe, where-

A black feather drifting in front of the four of them grabbed their attention; the woman quickly turned around and faced the back of a tall man with long silver hair and a single black feathered wing on his right side.

"Sephiroth..." said the woman and Sora at the same time, and they looked at each other in surprise, _the kid knows of Sephiroth?_

Sephiroth slowly turned around with an arrogant smirk and evil gleam in his eyes and said: "Where's Cloud?"

"Beats me."

"So you're the chosen keyblade wielder…" The woman gave a surprised look at Sora; _THIS kid is the Chosen Keyblade wielder?!_

"Let me see the Key, the key chooses its wielder and I'm afraid that it may have chosen the wrong person"

"No, I wouldn't let you touch the keyblade…"

"Are you willing to die for it?" and Sephiroth suddenly attacked, surprising Sora as his keyblade just barely blocked his attack in time.

_The kid's not fast enough, I gotta do something…_

Goofy and Donald tried to run over and help but they were suddenly knocked off their feet as they hit an invisible bearer separating them from Sora. The woman calmly stepped up to the bearer and placed a hand on it and mumbled a few words, a golden light spread from her palm and a heavy wind ruffled her cloak revealing a large ring with thirteen swords arranged around it, it hung on a loose belt…. A bright flash erupted where the woman was standing…

* * *

"Whoa, did you see that?" said Leon as he rushed down the steps towards the Deep Depths

"Sora needs help and fast, said Cloud as he jumped down from the cliff to the next plateau

_Hang in there Sora, we're coming…_

* * *

"CLANG"

Sora felt the ground under him, _am I dead?_ He suddenly noticed that something warm was nearby and it smelled like _jasmine?!_ He slowly opened his eyes and saw a mass of black hair and straining hand that was by his head. Someone was trying not to fall on top of him.

"Hurry, and get up!" said the woman who was straining to keep herself from falling on top of Sora

Sora just realized that she was bleeding deeply on her forehead; the blood was dripping onto him. The woman was holding a large ring of swords and was blocking the fatal blow that Sephiroth had used on him as he fell backwards onto the ground.

Sephiroth leaned down placing more weight on his sword and whispered in the woman's ear: "Hmm, so you broke my bearer, interesting…" Sora crab walked out from under the woman and grabbed the keyblade.

The woman gritted her teeth and pushed the One-Winged Angel off launching him into the air, but he just did a quick summersault in the air and landed gracefully on his feet. She stood up and removed her blood stained cloak, revealing her sensuous and athletic build, which was accented by the black form-fitting priestess robes that were worn by Japanese priestesses of old. She then removed one of the swords on the ring and it glowed and extended to a long sword, she attached the ring back to her belt and placed both hands on the hilt of the sword, pointing it at Sephiroth.

"Do you really want to fight me woman? You will die, if you do."

"Don't be worried about me; you'd better worry about yourself."

"As you wish, any last words?"

"Go to Hell"

Sephiroth, then smirked, _I think I'm starting to like this woman_ and he then charged at the woman straight on, he went so fast that disappeared…

* * *

"Who is she?!" asked Donald as he and Goofy helped Sora over to a clear area

"I dunno…but… she's strong…" said Sora as he winced when Sephiroth's blade just nicked the woman's arm...

* * *

"So are you going to give up? I'll give you this one last chance to back out of this fight…alive…" said Sephiroth as he eyed the bleeding cuts on her forehead and the her torn right sleeve.

"Like I'm going to give up to the likes of you!" _dammit, he can tell that I'm getting tired, I can't lose to him…just when I found the keyblade_. She was just about to strike again when he suddenly appeared on her left side and slashed at her, she moved away in time to swerve to the right to hear him quickly mumbling an incantation which caused his sword to suddenly glow a sickly green colour. He came at her again this time in a speed that even she couldn't see his blur and suddenly felt his arms around her, as if he was embracing her…

* * *

"What is he doing?!"

"I dunno Donald; you gotta get your hands off my eyes"

"What?! Oh…sorry…Sora"

"WHAT is he doing?!"

"That's what I just asked!"

"Hi-yuk! Looks like he's ah hugging her…"

"WHAT?!"

* * *

She then slowly turned her head as she realized that he had his chest pressed to the right side of her back and his left hand was holding her right hand which held her sword. From afar it would look like this silver headed man was embracing his lover from behind and showing her how to use a sword, but in fact he just plunged his sword into her stomach. She turned her head, the colour draining from her face and meeting his cold piercing emerald-turquoise gaze.

"It was fun, but it's a shame that such a beautiful thing has to be stained with your blood" as Sephiroth pulled his beloved sword out of the woman's stomach, she dropped her sword and slumped to the ground face up, coughing up blood and managing to choke up the words: "Go… to…Hell…"

"Still at it I see, if only you didn't meddle, we could have started a partnership, but…all good things must come to an end."

As he was lifting his sword to finish the kill a voice called out: "SEPHIROTH!"

"Ah Cloud, there you are." Sephiroth turned away from the woman and stepped over her to walk towards Cloud.

"Stop, right there…Mr. Hero" sneered Sephiroth, as he eyed Leon, who was about to reach the woman.

"Your fight is with me, Sephiroth." Cloud then charged Sephiroth, Sephiroth then jumped up and landed in the lower level of the Deep Depths.

"Good, good, you're angry; I have a gift for you…despair." Sephiroth then charged at Cloud.

"I don't accept gifts from you." Said Cloud as he back flipped away from the swipe that Sephiroth made.

"Cloud!"

"Leon, stay outta this! This is my battle!" yelled Cloud as he blocked several slashes.

Sephiroth then lifted Masamune and threw a blast of golden light, which Cloud deftly jumped away from and retaliated with his own energy blast that cut three deep scars on the cliff wall.

"My my, don't we have a soft spot for Mr. Hero here…"

"Leave him outta this!" Cloud then ran up against the cliff wall and did a back flip while making a wide slash at Sephiroth's face, in which Sephiroth just smirked as he moved his head.

"Is that all you can do Cloud? What happened to your strength? I remember you being stronger than this, has Mr. Hero made you soft?" Said Sephiroth as he moved back to swing a large arc to cut a large overhanging plateau.

"Shut up!" said a muffled Cloud as he blasted the plateau to bits and charged ahead with renewed energy

"Shall I take him away from you?" said Sephiroth as he started towards a wide eyed Leon as he saw that Sephiroth was coming.

Leon then pulled out his gunblade and it began to glow, Sephiroth then slashed a wide arc at Leon, in which he dodged rolled away from and blasted a large ball of energy at Sephiroth. Sephiroth then jumped out of the path of the blast and charged straight at Leon, with a blood thirsty gleam in his eyes, before he could even get within a two feet of slashing his sword, Cloud had blocked Sephiroth and threw him five feet into the air.

"Ah, there is that strength that I remember, so are you finally taking me seriously?" said a slightly ruffled Sephiroth as he eyed Cloud with a critical eye

Cloud stood in a defensive position and glared at Sephiroth with all the hatred he had for the man who tormented him for as long as he could remember.

"I _will_ take away your happiness, and the _thing_ that you hold most dear!" Said Sephiroth as he rushed at Cloud.

"I hold everything dear to me, and they are my friends!" as Cloud did a slash and then circled around Sephiroth slashing and blocking every blow that Sephiroth gave. Cloud then moved faster than Sephiroth had ever known that Cloud could go and he slashed and hacked at a shocked still Sephiroth.

"Stay away…forever in my memories." Said Cloud as he slowed down from his multiple attacks and turned around to see that Sephiroth had his single wing wrapped around him and was starting to fade…

The last words that were heard from a fading Sephiroth were:

"I will…never be a memory…"

* * *

Cloud turned around and gave Leon a big grin, in which Leon gave Cloud a goofy grin in return and then quickly turned towards Sora, Donald and Goofy who were surrounding the woman that Sephiroth left to die.

"No, don't…don't…stay awake, please! Don't die!" said a teary Sora as he held the woman's right hand

"CUREGA! CUREGA! CUREGA!"

"Leon!" The man quickly ran over to Sora and kneeled down to examine the woman; he brushed her hair out of her face and he suddenly froze and took a sharp breath in, _it can't be…Rinoa…_

She slowly opened her eyes, "Th-ank…you…Duck-y…" and became paler as her strength and breathing became more and more faint….

* * *

Honest Critism, please I will try to update soon, your reviews is what keeps this story going...uh, if you find the grammer/spelling a bit off its cuz I'm doing the writing/editing/spell check...so bear with me. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3... **Note:** for those of you that have been reading this...I just recently re-edited Chapter 2 since I thought that the Cloud/Sephiroth battle sucked...but for those who never read that version just ignore this note...

Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own. KH. Master Genius Tetsuya Nomura does

* * *

"Do you think she will ever wake up Aerith?" said Sora

"I hope so, we've done all that we can, isn't that right Merlin?"

"Yes, she is very interesting; she should have died from the stab since the blade that was used was poisoned, yet she shows such resilience…"

"Yuffie don't touch those!"

"But Aerith! Look at the swords! Their pointy things and their sooooo pretty and shiny!" Aerith then gave a stern look at Yuffie, who quickly put her hands behind her back.

"Sora, how did she end up like this?"

"Well, Sephiroth appeared just after…"

* * *

_Everything is so soft and warm, so this is what its like to die? What is that mumbling?_

_Something…pretty…shiny Sora? What? Um…Sephiroth…Sephiroth…SEPHIROTH?!_

"Seph-…Sephiroth?!"

"Huh?" said Sora as he turned around and faced the woman who was slowly opening her eyes

"My my, how are you my dear?" said Merlin

"Wher-where…am…I?" croaked the woman

"Oh, you're in Hollow Bastion, here have a glass of water, I'm Aerith by the way"

"Thank you" the woman slowly lifted her arm and greedily drank all the water

"To be more precise, you're in Aerith's wonderful house, my name is Merlin and I am happy to be of your service, Miss…"

"…just call me…River…I-"

"Cloud!" yelled Yuffie as he passed by the open door to the room _Cloud? _

"….yes?"

"Have you seen Leon? River is awake you see."

"…….River?" A curious Cloud peered into the room; Cid came barging in with a thick dust covered book in his hands:

"Merlin! There ya are, wats this mean? Mer-...lin?" said Cid as his eyes widened at the whole group of people in the room and the shockingly familiar woman sitting up in the bed.

"Rinoa?"

"Sorry? Who are you?"

"Let's sort this out first, everyone this is River… and my name is Aerith Gainsborough, and you met Merlin, this is-"

"Hi! I'm Yuffie Kisaragi" said Yuffie as Aerith gave her an annoyed look

"I'm Sora"

"Goofy, Hi-yuk! Nice to meet ya"

"Donald Duck"

"So that's your name, _Ducky_"

"It's Donald!"

"Meh, I'm Cid Highwind, gummy ship builder and dealer"

"And the quiet one over by the door is Cloud Strife" Cloud nodded in acknowledgement towards River.

"Um, nice to meet you all…so…how long have I been out?"

"It's about three days isn't it, Aerith?" said Merlin as he scratched his head in thought

"Yes, three days, how are you feeling?"

"A bit sore, but I think I'll be fine…"

"Alright, well I'm going to borrow Merlin here, nice to meet ya River." Cid then grabbed Merlin by the back of his robe, "Oh! See you later River." Said a cheerful Merlin, waving goodbye as Cid dragged the clueless wizard out of the room.

"Oh here are your clothes, don't worry, me and Tifa changed you" said Aerith as she realized that River turned slightly pale when she looked down at the over large T-shirt she was wearing.

"Tifa?"

"You'll meet her soon, hey can you show me your moves, and I wanna see how you fight with this!" Yuffie then carefully lifted the long sword and swung it about, nearly sheering off the top of Sora's hair.

"Whoa, watch out with that Yuffie!"

"Opps, sorry!" Cloud then calmly walked over and took the sword from Yuffie's hands and placed the sword back down on the table, "Don't touch a weapon that you don't know how to handle"

"Aww, Cloudy don't be such a spoil sport." Cloud noticeably stiffened at the word of Cloudy.

"….Don't….call….me…..that…."

"Cloudy, Cloudy-wowdy, Cloudster, Cloudy-poo, Cloudy-chan, Cloudy-kun" At each nickname that Yuffie said a small vein at the top of Cloud's forehead visibly throbbed and his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Um…Yuffie…maybe you should stop…"

"Naa…come and catch me…Cloudy" said Yuffie as she grabbed his sword from behind his back and ran out the room followed by an irritated Cloud and Sora, Donald, and Goofy chased after the two of them.

"Boy…aren't they an energetic group?"

"He he, yes, well Yuffie is, but usually Cloud is more…shall we say…stoic…of the group of them….Well, you get some rest, I'll go and try to find Leon and tell him that your awake."

"Aerith…thank you…for everything."

* * *

1:00am... 

Leon carefully slipped into his room, tip-toeing towards the closet, trying not wake the woman who was peacefully asleep in his bed. As he passed by the bed, River moved in her sleep turning around so that the moon light that was shining from the open window fell on her sleeping form, making her appear hauntingly beautiful with pale skin.

Leon stopped and gazed at River, _She looks so much like Rinoa…_he then walked right next to the bed and brushed away some stray strands of hair that were in her face from the slight breeze coming from the window.

He was then tempted to lean down and kiss her, but he froze as he remembered that this woman is not Rinoa…_She died…to save me…no…to save…everyone…_

Leon then turned and left the room empty handed, silently closing the door, then slumping to the floor as his heart thumped loudly…._what's wrong with me?_

River groggily opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings to be sure that what she felt was just the wind, and fell back to sleep with an uneasy feeling that someone was watching her….

* * *

yes, I know its short...please review...Don't just read and not review...good/bad input is always welcomed 


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, I'm back, I have so much to do now, since Finals are coming... disclaimer: I do not own any of the KH characters...now on with the show...er...story...

* * *

"Good Morning!" Aerith then fully opened the curtains letting the warm sunlight stream through the window to shine into the bed. She then walked over to the mass of blankets and comforter and pulled the sheets back to reveal an empty bed. _Huh? Where did River go?_

"Morning!"

Aerith turned around and saw that River was standing in the doorway holding one of Merlin's old books; she was wearing her form-fitting black robes again and had her hair tied up in a lose bun, "sorry, I forgot to make the bed…here let me do that." River then walked in, placed the book on the nearby table and took the sheets that Aerith was holding and in one quick wave of the sheets she had them in a neat and tidy pile at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, yeah…um, Aerith…?"

"Yes? Is something wrong?"

"Well, um…whose room is this?"

"Oh! It's Leon's room, though I have no idea why he brought you to his room in the first place, when you were injured, I mean…maybe it has to do with the fact that…"Aerith then trailed off into silence and her eyes became somewhat glazed over…_you look so much like Rinoa…_

"Aerith? Are you alright? Aerith?"

"Hmm? Oh! I'm fine…come let's go down to the kitchen before there is no food left."

_I've been here for a total of five days if I count the day I fought with Sephiroth…and yet everyone looks at me as if I was someone else…and who is this Leon person? He hasn't shown himself or introduced himself…_

"Aerith? What is this Leon like? I haven't been introduced to him and yet he is letting me use his room…"

"Yes, its strange…usually he is around the house or somewhere in town…but lately he has been skipping his meals, though I always leave some out for him and in the mornings I find his dishes all clean…Oh! Don't worry, Leon may seem a bit of an old grumpy lion at first, but he has a heart of gold." Smiled Aerith _he's probably avoiding you, your uncanny resemblance to Rinoa is what keeps him away…_

"So what's for breakfast today?" River then picked up the dusty volume and followed Aerith out the room

"I made barley waffles"

"Barley waffles?!"

"Yep! Oh by the way just to warn you, Yuffie and Sora-"

"CRASH! Splat! Splat!"

"Take that back!"

"No you take it back!"

"Oh dear…" Aerith then ran down the stairs followed by a bewildered River, as they came into the kitchen they found Yuffie at one end of the room and Sora at one end, with Donald, Goofy, Merlin, and Cid huddled behind a waffle batter covered sofa. The two trouble makers we're still throwing the batter when Cloud suddenly walked into the kitchen and slipped on the batter covered floor.

"YUFFIE KISARAGI!" Yelled Cloud he got himself off of the floor and turned red faced towards Yuffie, his hair covered in batter on his left side, making his gravity defying hair droop towards his face.

"Uh-oh…scary…Cloud…" The electricity in the air sparked and crackled as Cloud demonically glared at Yuffie

Suddenly a sniggering sound was heard which eventually turned to bright laughter. Everyone turned around to face River who was uncontrollably full out laughing, "Ha ha, sorry…I just couldn't help it. Come Cloud, let's clean you up" River then carefully walked over and grabbed a glaring Cloud and carefully steered him to the nearest washroom, quickly turning around and mouthing to Aerith: "Go clean up, I'll calm him down"

* * *

River then planted Cloud on the edge of the tub and turned around to soak a washcloth that she found, "Cloud, really I am sorry for laughing at you…"

"It's alright, it's just…" Cloud then gave a big sigh

"Lemme guess, it's just Yuffie and her childish antics? Or is it the fact that I look like someone else to everybody? Or the fact that this mysterious Leon still hasn't introduced himself to me…though I get the feeling that he or someone is watching me…" Said River as she carefully removed some clumps of batter before she wiped some off Cloud's face

Cloud then grabbed River's wrist to stop her from covering his face, "Leon, still hasn't seen you?"

"…No…I still need to find him to thank him for lending his room to me, I'll be staying in a different room tomorrow…do you know where I can find him?"

"…No…" Cloud gave a glance at River as she was busy rinsing the cloth out, _she really does look like her from the pictures that I have seen, yet there's something different about her, like she's keeping something away from us…_

"…Did Aerith tell you…about…her?"

"Who?" said a distracted River as she hung the wet washcloth on a handle bar, and sat next to Cloud who was running his hands through his hair to get back the gravity defying effect.

"……..Rinoa…….."

"…No, who is she?" Said River as delicately as she could

"…well…I'm not sure if I'm the right person to tell you this…but, she was-

"Cloud? River? Are you guys finished in there, Aerith wants me to tell you that breakfast is ready…" said a muffled Sora

Cloud then got up and opened the door and raised an eyebrow at a batter covered Sora and said: "thanks for letting us know, let's go River." Sora started off ahead of them and just as River passed Cloud, he placed a hand on the small of her back and said: "Don't worry about Leon, he'll come around, and thank you, for…" he then scratched his head and turned slightly pink, "…for…"

"Your welcome." Smirked River as she realized that Cloud was slightly embarrassed that she cleaned him up as if he was a child, then sarcastically she said: "Come, let's go, those barley waffles that I have been hearing about smell good."

* * *

"Are you going to introduce yourself to her?"

"…" _Dammit, Cloud how is it that you're able to find me?!_ Thought Leon as he glanced at Cloud who was walking towards him, then back down to Aerith, Tifa, and River doing the laundry.

Cloud looked at Leon carefully, he then studied the expression that he had on his face and he noticed the complete concentration the man had as he tracked the movements of a certain black-haired-priestess robe-wearing woman hang the laundry.

"You know, the more you stare at her, the more likely she will melt…." Cloud ignored the glare that Leon gave and turned to notice that River was looking directly at Leon, Leon then quickly turned away and walked towards the Ansem's library.

"Leon, she doesn't know about…her…" Leon ignored Cloud once again and continued walking.

"Leon, the least you can do is let her thank you…" Said Cloud to the retreating back of Leon.

* * *

"Cloudster! There you are! I was looking everywhere for ya, come with me." Yuffie then grabbed Cloud's wrist and dragged him towards a very very pink café.

"Yuffie, what is it, why can't you tell me now?"

"Come on, your heavy you know, cooperate with me, Aerith and Tifa want to talk to you too."

Once Cloud was seated snugly between Aerith and Tifa to prevent Cloud from leaving the overly pink café, Aerith started the conversation: "Cloud, you have noticed the uncanny resemblance River has to Rinoa, bless her, right? Well, have you told her about it?"

"…No…I haven't told her…yet"

"Good!" said Yuffie, surprising Cloud as he realized that that was the first time Yuffie had spoken anything since they ordered tea and sandwiches

"…Good?"

"Yes, You see me, Aerith, and Yuffie, have thought this out and realized that-

"Dreamy Leon- what?!" said Yuffie as the others were staring at her, "Well, he is…" mumbled Yuffie

"Anyways, the three of us realized that Leon needs a companion, after all these years, we think that this is a good time to find him someone, and who better to be that someone than River."

"What do you think Cloud?"

"……..I….think…..that it's a bad idea…"

"But why?" complained Yuffie

"I don't think that Leon is ready to handle another relationship."

"That may be true Cloud, but don't you think that Leon, should learn that there are second chances, just as you have learned when you returned home." Said Aerith as she poured some tea into his cup.

"Alright, Cloud we'll give them at least a week, if Leon or River doesn't meet within that week, we're going to do something about it then." Said Yuffie as she took a large bite out of her sandwich.

_Why do I get the feeling that even with my input the Triple Threat would still go through with this plan of theirs_ thought Cloud as he picked at his sandwich….

* * *

Yes, the pot thickens...er the plot, review please, any suggestions or ideas, I'm open to them, though I may not use them... 


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, I'm back...Laissez-faire week (Part 1) from the Triple Threat before they go full steam on to their plan(s?)...aren't they nice. Note: NEVER piss off the Triple Threat, there's a reason why Cloud calls 'em that... Disclaimer: Do not own KH/KHII, Nomura-san does.

* * *

**Monday 3:00pm Market Place:**

"_Alright Cloud, we'll leave them be for only a week, but you better not tell Leon of our plan or else…"_ thought Cloud as he remembered the 'meeting' he had with the Triple Threat, and he shuddered at the thought of what they would do to him if he told Leon…._Pink shirts and shopping, or even…no…they wouldn't go as far as to dye my hair pink, or paint my nails pink…though…I wouldn't want to put it past Aerith, like that time Yuffie used Aerith's favourite pink dress as a kite, boy was she pissed…_

"Cloud? Are you alright? I think you should move, your blocking that woman's way to the market said River as she pulled Cloud towards her to get him out of the way of the other shoppers.

"Hmm?" said Cloud, still lost in his reverie as he leaned towards River so he could make room for a vendor to wheel the large crate of oranges into the square. Cloud suddenly realized how close he was to River; her back was pressed up against the wall, and both of the palms of his hands were flat on the wall behind her head…and he could smell…_jasmine…_

From above it looked like Cloud was going to kiss River…

* * *

_What the hell is he doing?_ Leon was about to jump down from the stone wall and punch Cloud when he realized that River had the basket that she brought, pressed against Cloud's chest to keep him from moving any closer…

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've put you in such a…a…well…um are you alright? You looked lost in your thoughts a second ago Cloud…you were blocking that woman from crossing so I thought…to well…move you out of the way and then that vendor had to come…" River then trailed off into silence…_God, I sound like a blabbering idiot_

Cloud turned slightly pale as River tried to apologize, and he regained his voice to say: "…No there's nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault to be standing in the middle of the walkway, if I wasn't here you would have been crushed and I know someone who wouldn't like that..." _heh, you better have heard that Leon…where ever you are…_

Leon scowled at the comment that Cloud made and walked over to Merlin's house….

* * *

**Tuesday 6:00am Merlin's house:**

…_Dawn…I should get up…_Leon sat up and looked around in shock at all the books, lose sheets of paper and the blackboards that were covered in strange symbols and formulas that surrounded him when, he suddenly remembered that he was sleeping in Merlin's library.

_I wonder if she's awake yet…_he then stretched his arms and thought about what he was going to fix today when he heard Merlin chatting with someone at the front door:

"Oh, good morning! Come in, I was just going to get some tea made."

"Oh, it's not necessary; I'm only coming by this early to drop of the book that I borrowed from you the other day."

"Please do come in, I have some of Aerith's excellent tea biscuits...please come in I insist."

"Well, since you put it that way… I hope I'm not imposing on you."

"Not at all."

* * *

Leon quickly got out of bed and changed, just as he was about to put on his jacket, the door to the library creaked open, Leon quickly jumped over the sofa and hid behind it listening to Merlin and the distinctly female voice speak:

"How about we have tea here, I'll be right back with the tea and biscuits, feel free to browse."

"Thank you."

_Don't come near the sofa…Don't come near the sofa…Don't come near the sofa…_thought Leon with dread as he heard footsteps approaching the sofa which still had Leon's pillow, blankets and covers still on it.

_Hmmm…nice library… huh? What is that on the sofa…wait a minute, those are…_before River could finish her thought, Merlin came into the library with a trolley rolling after him piled with tea biscuits and sweets.

"Here, have a seat River…"

_WHAT?! It's River who's here!!!_

"Oh, here let me move those." With a swish of his wand Merlin had Leon's bedding folded and he then floated the pile to the back of the sofa and let it fall…

_Merlin! I sooo going to kill you for dumping this on top of me…_

"Here's your book Merlin, and thank you again for the tea."

"Oh, you're welcome; please feel free to borrow more books if you like. Is there something you want to talk to me about, you seem distracted." Said Merlin as he noticed the lack of enthusiasm River had when she took a sip of her tea.

"…well, um…have you seen Leon…I'd like to thank him in person for helping me and for letting me use his room, but I can never seem to find him, it's like he is trying to avoid me…" said River sadly as she placed her tea cup on the cluttered nearby table.

"Now, now, don't worry I'm sure he knows that you appreciate the hospitality he has given you." Merlin then "accidentally" knocked over the table that had River's cup of tea on it, causing the cup of hot tea to fly through the air and land directly on top of Leon's head with the contents all over him…

_MERLIN, YOU ARE DEAD! _Thought Leon as he bit down on his pillow to stop himself from yelling out loud.

"Oh, dear, I'm terribly sorry…did I get any tea on you? I'm really not too graceful in the mornings…"

"No, no its alright, it was my fault in the first place for putting my cup there, here let me help you clean up…" River then walked over to the door and turned around and said: "I'll go find a mop."

When River closed the door, Leon stood up to his full height and demonically glared at the sheepishly smiling wizard who was waving his wand and munching on a biscuit as he magically cleaned the mess on the floor and Leon.

"What did _you _do that for?!"

"Now, now Leon, you don't want River to hear you."

"Leon…" sighed Merlin, "sooner or later River will confront you."

"…"

"Come let's find you a better hiding place…"

* * *

"Merlin, where is your mop?"

"Mop?"

"Oh, I'm so stupid you're a wizard…you cleaned it up already…well Merlin, I don't think I should stay, Aerith is probably up by now and is probably wondering where I went, since I promised her that I'd help her with breakfast."

"Oh, it's alright, I'll be coming in a bit, but you should go help Aerith, she is probably going to make a big breakfast just for the fact that you have gotten well so quick…here I'll walk you out."

"Oh, yes, Merlin, if you do see Leon, could you tell him that he can have his room back, since I'll be staying in the room across the hall from his room."

"Yes, I will tell him, now you go on, Aerith is waiting."

"Thank you Merlin, see you later."

From his hiding spot Leon carefully moved to the window and watched as the sunlight cast a loving glow onto River as she ran off towards Aerith's house….

* * *

**Wednesday 2:00pm Aerith's house:**

"Aerith?"

"Yes?" said a distracted Aerith as she was adding chocolate chips to the batter of cookie dough

"What does Leon look like? Oh, oops um…how do I use this icing bag?" said River as she over-squeezed the bag and made a big blob of icing on the cake she was decorating.

"Here, it's like this, use it like a pencil, well Leon, he…"

"AWESOME! COOKIES AND CAKE! Can I help Aerith? Please please?"

"Yuffie there you are, I thought you said that you're going to help me with these groceries" said Tifa as she carried two paper bags in each arm.

"Yuffie come, help me with the groceries then the both of us will help Aerith and River. Cloud! Bring in the other groceries."

* * *

Once everything was settled, Tifa and Yuffie put on their own aprons and helped with decorating cupcakes and Cloud sat at a stool reading one of Cid's motorcycle magazines and listening to their conversation.

"So, Aerith what's with all this baking?"

"Well, Yuffie, tomorrow we're going to go on a picnic to show River the garden, and hopefully I can get Leon to actually come." Said Aerith with a twinkle in her eyes and a mischievous smile

"Speaking of Leon, River here was wondering what he looks like." Said Aerith to Tifa and Yuffie

The Triple Threat all grinned at each other and looked at River as if she was a little canary and they were three tabby cats waiting to pounce on her.

"Well, Leon is Leon."

"Tifa, that's not very descriptive, right Cloud?" Said Yuffie, Cloud only rolled his eyes in response and continued reading the magazine; she then glared at him and said to River: "Leon is such a cutie."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Yuffie, "What?! Well he is, just admit it, Aerith, don't you think so? Tifa? Cloud?!"

"Well…he is nice looking…." Said a slightly pink Aerith and she turned to Tifa

"Yes…I agree with you, Aerith…though he is slightly distant."

"What do you think Cloud?" said a curious River, _Cloud is pretty close to the man…I wonder what he thinks of Leon_

"….He…he is a good person…"

"Aww, Cloudy, you care about him too!" squealed Yuffie, Cloud's cheeks were tinged with a faint pink colour and he said in a gruff voice: "Yuffie just describe him or find that photo of him that you have."

"Cloud! You're so mean! I lost that picture!"

"Does he have medium length brown hair, grey eyes, and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose?"

"How did you know?!"

"Well, when we were doing the laundry, I noticed that Cloud was on an above platform and I waved to him when, I noticed this other man…I assumed it was Leon, but before I could call out a 'hello' he turned away."

"Yep, that sounds like Leon…were you with him Cloud?"

"Yes, that was Leon."

"Oh, good well, he is quite recognizable since he always wears his usual white shirt with his Griever Pendant chain necklace, black pants with two red and two black belts criss-crossed around his waist and a fur collared jacket." Said Yuffie as she listed off Leon's wardrobe, again for a second time, everyone stared at her.

"GUYS, STOP IT!"

"He he, Yuffie maybe you and Leon should get together since you know so much about him." Said a smiling River

"Noooo! He's too grumpy…no he's nice…no….gah! He's my friend."

"Alright, alright, guys let's stop teasing Yuffie, trust us River, Leon is a very good person, it's just that…you-

"OH Aerith! Your cookies are burning!" Said Tifa and Yuffie as the two of them dragged a bewildered Aerith over by the oven and huddled together talking in whispers.

"Aerith! What are you doing?"

"You were going to tell her!"

"I'm soo sorry, it just slipped, it's just that there is something about River that makes me feel relaxed and calm, haven't you guys noticed that, even Cloud is talking a lot more with us since she came here." The three of them looked over at Cloud who was animatedly talking with River and giving her pointers on how to decorate the cake.

"It doesn't matter we gotta go into Operation Get them to meet, and I mean we initiate it now." Said Yuffie

"Yuffie, we promised Cloud that we wouldn't do anything till this week is over, you do remember that he knows of this, if he tells Leon…"

"Alright, Tifa-

"Are your cookies alright?" Said River in a conspiratorial tone as she huddled down with the three of them.

"Wahhh! Don't do that River! You scared the heck outta me!"

"Sorry Yuffie."

"How much did you hear?"

"Not much just you saying 'Alright Tifa' that's all" said a bewildered River

"Come let's finish the rest of the food."

As the four of them returned to the counter where Cloud was sitting, he grinned at Yuffie and winked at River. Yuffie saw this and burst out: "Cloud, you told River to come over didn't you!"

"What are you talking about?" Said a stoic Cloud as he picked up the magazine and walked toward the stairs, "Oh, by the way your cookies are _actually_ burning this time." Said Cloud offhandedly as he made his way up, while Aerith rushed over to the oven and realized that the oven wasn't even turned on….

* * *

What do _you_ think? Review please, getting feed back is what keeps me writing this...really I'm not lying...a prime example of not getting any reviews and quiting was my other story... 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: see last chapter...I'm tired of typing it out all the time...enjoy!

* * *

**Thursday 1:00pm Rose Garden:**

"Alright is everyone here?"

"Wait, Aerith, where's Leon?"

"He's coming." Said Aerith with a innocent smile

_I wonder what she told him to get him to come…_ thought Cloud as he looked around the garden and the half-way repaired castle.

After all the construction and the hard work that the Hollow Bastian Restoration Committee had done, the fruits of their labour showed, the semi-repaired castle and the finished garden looked even better than before the heartless came and invaded.

"Sora, Donald, and Goofy please help Cid and Merlin with the grill, Yuffie and Tifa can you help me with the blanket and the settings?"

"What can I do to help, Aerith?"

"Oh, River, you take it easy, Cloud could you be a dear and tour River around the garden and find Leon?"

Cloud nodded and led River towards the other side of the garden.

* * *

After wandering the several sections of the garden, Cloud then led River over to the fountain; he then turned around and looked at River who as sitting by the fountain wearing the new set of clothing that the Triple Threat had insisted on purchasing for her just for this occasion. 

She was glazing at the refracting lights that bounced off of the polished stones in the bottom of the fountain, lights bounced off of her serene face and her hair was loose allowing the spring breeze to ruffle her hair. The white and lavender flowered sun dress that she was wearing hugged the contours of her body and the skirt flowed loosely with the breeze. _Wow, the Triple Threat make her look different…different in a good way though…who'd have thought that she'd look so different without her usual black robes…_

"Cloud? Are you alright, your staring at me…" trailed off River as she stood up and walked over to Cloud and waved a hand in front of his face which got his attention.

"Huh? Oh…sorry…um, yeah this is the Fountain of Wishes, here." Cloud then shoved his hand into a pocket and withdrew a munny and handed it to River, "Make a wish and throw it over your shoulder into the fountain."

"Oh, thanks Cloud." River then smiled and walked over to the fountain then turned around and closed her eyes and with a grin on her face she threw the munny with a plop into the fountain.

* * *

_Wow, she looks nice_ thought Leon as he watched River throw the munny into the fountain, from behind one of Merlin's extravagantly blooming rose bushes. 

"I'll be back; you do know the way back to the area we're at right?"

"I'll be fine, go on Cloud, you have a mission to do right?" said River with a grin

Cloud then turned and walked away and called out: "I'll see you later, and debrief you on my 'mission'"

River turned towards the fountain and examined the fountain again, taking in her surroundings…

* * *

"Are you just going to be a shadow to her?" 

_Cloud…again how does he do it?_ Leon turned from his hiding spot to glare at Cloud; Cloud gave an innocent look and walked over to Leon, who turned back around to watch River smell a rose.

"Aerith is looking for you……how _did_ she get you to come?" said a curious Cloud as he brushed off some rose pedals off his shoulders

"You should keep those pedals on your shoulders; they really bring out the blue in your eyes." Said Leon with smirk as he avoided Cloud's question

"Oh? Well are you sure that you should be talking when you keep on gazing at a certain black haired female, when you have rose pedals on your own shoulders?" Said Cloud as he flicked a pedal off of Leon's shoulders to emphasize his point

Leon scowled at Cloud and said: "Seriously, drop it."

"Drop what? Rose pedals?" Cloud then hung an arm around Leon's shoulders, and whispered in his ear: "So, you want me to report to Aerith, that I couldn't find you?"

"Tell her that I'm coming." Said an annoyed Leon as he straightened himself and walked towards the hedge maze, and waved a hand without turning around to see Cloud's smirk…

* * *

"Cloudster! Where have you been? Have you found Leon?" 

"….Yes and no…is River back yet?"

"…no…"

"Where's Aerith?"

"She went to get some more plates and napkins, Cloud what are you up to?"

"…nothing…let's eat!"

* * *

"Hey, let's play a game." Everyone turned and looked with shock at Cloud, the last person they'd expect to announce that they were going to play a game. 

Cloud then gave a slightly annoyed look at everyone staring at him, but he continued: "Ok, I know that Leon is somewhere in the hedge maze and he hasn't eaten, so we should all go bring a plate of food and try to find him in there."

"OH! That's good idea Cloud!" Said Aerith as she noticed the subtle wink that Cloud gave towards her, she then filled ten plates with food and wrapped them with a set of utensils and napkins and handed them out to everyone.

* * *

"Alright, go!" 

Sora, Yuffie, Donald and Goofy, ran as fast as they could towards the maze without dropping the food. Giving a smile at Aerith and Tifa, River carefully walked towards the maze. Before Tifa could ask Cloud what was going on, Cid spoke: "You used it didn't you?"

Cloud nodded and spoke before Tifa could ask, "I placed a tracing device that Cid made on Leon"

Tifa's eyes widened in shock, and then suddenly they lowered into slits as she said: "You were planning this all along weren't you, and you three knew about it!" she then turned to a guilty looking Aerith, Cid and Merlin, "I saw that impromptu meeting that you four had over by the grill, so then the whole 'wait a week' thing was just for the four of you to prepare?"

"Well initially yes, but I just told Aerith my plan a minute ago." Tifa gave a slightly annoyed look at being left out but she suddenly brightened and said: "Fine, I forgive you, but this 'probation week' had better stop and this had better work Cloudy."

Aerith smiled at the pained look that Cloud gave when Tifa said one of Yuffie's favourite nicknames she had for Cloud, and then looked at the other four and said: "Should we get this started then?"

* * *

"River!" 

"Yes?" River then turned around from the entrance of the maze to meet Aerith, Cloud, Tifa, Cid, and Merlin who all walked over with their own plates.

"How about we work together?"

"Sure Tifa, I think we could find him more easily that way."

The six of them entered the maze and they decided to split into a group of three; Cid, Merlin, and Tifa in one group to take the path on the right, Cloud, Aerith and River in another taking the path on the left.

* * *

After walking and searching for 5 minutes, Cid, Merlin, and Tifa stumbled into a large area with statues where, Sora, Yuffie, Donald and Goofy were all talking and eating the food that they had brought. 

"Yuffie! Sora! What are you doing, that food is for Leon!"

"But! It's so good!"

"Sorry…" said Sora with a sheepish grin

"Hiyuk, it sure is good."

"Yeah!"

"Alright you guys stay here; we'll come back with everyone."

"Ok!"

Meanwhile, Aerith, Cloud and River suddenly came to a path where it split into three forks. The three of them heard some rustling sounds behind them and saw Tifa, Merlin and Cid come out, slightly out of breath.

"Oh, we meet up again, let's join you three." Said Tifa with a twinkle in her eyes

"River, how about you take the middle path while, Aerith takes the one on the left and I take the one on the right?" said Cloud as he slightly nodded to Merlin to signal that Leon was hiding at the second fountain in the garden.

"Alright Cloud." River then turned and entered the middle path, behind her Merlin silently cast an indivisibility spell on all of them and they carefully followed her...

* * *

As River approached the fountain she saw a figure sitting by the fountain throwing skipping stones across the surface. She then cleared her throat, which caused the figure to turn around, and look at her in surprise as she approached; she noticed that he was going to get up… 

"Wait! Don't go…Leon? Um I have some food from our picnic, Aerith said that you were supposed to be there, anyways I'm River, nice to finally meet you."

_CLOUD! He must have put some tracking device on me when he put his arm around my shoulders, no wonder why it was strange when he did that_ thought Leon as he stared at River who was standing near a rose bush holding what looked to be the food that she mentioned.

Leon then nodded then added: "I'm Leon"

River then walked over and stopped in front of Leon who looked up at her from his seat by the fountain, she looked at him expectantly….

* * *

"Leon that fool, what is he doing making her stand there like an idiot." 

"Give him a break; he probably is still shocked, let's hope that they get along well."

"Cloud this is such a wonderful meeting place, it's pretty appropriate considering that this is the Fountain of Lovers" said Aerith as she watched Leon gesture to the spot next to him on the fountain, "Oh, look look, he finally asked her to join him, he he I put more food than necessary on River's plate and I placed two settings with the napkins."

* * *

"Here, you must be hungry." Said River as she sat down next to Leon and handed over the plate of food she had. 

"Thank you." Leon then uncovered the plate and realized that there was too much food for him and that he had two settings in his hands, _Aerith…_He then sighed and said: "It looks like there is too much food here and I have two settings here."

"What? But I thought that it just had one, Aerith must have given me the wrong plate, well….um anyways, thanks for saving me and letting me use your room."

"There's no need to thank me, and its no problem about you using my room, anyways since I can't finish this banquet on my own, you mind if you help me?" said Leon as he pointed a fork towards River, who happily took it and speared a cherry tomato which accidentally sprayed tomato juice on the both of them.

* * *

"This is going way better than we thought who knew that Leon could flirt so easily?" 

"Yes, usually when he meets people he is very cold towards them before he gets to know someone."

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that River just has this ability to make others relax when she is around them…"

"Ya noticed that too, huh?" said Cid as the rest of the group turned back to the scene playing out in front of them...

* * *

"Oh, I'm soo sorry here let me help you." River then took a napkin and began to mop the juice off of Leon's face she then carefully held his face and started to wipe some juice off the right side of his head, distracted as she was with cleaning his face; Leon then gazed at her properly, the hand that held his napkin lowered as he looked at her warm brown eyes and the way that the wind played with her hair…. 

"Leon? Leon, is there something wrong?"

"Uh, yeah, here." Leon then lightly turned River's chin to the left and wiped a drop off her cheek, _her skin is so soft…like Rinoa's…_he then quickly dropped his hands and looked off to the side.

"Is something wrong Leon? Do you want to talk about it?" said a concerned River as she noticed that his grey eyes suddenly looked pained

"No! I…I'm sorry…"

"It's alright, well if you need someone to talk to just let me know." River then stood up and walked to the entrance back to the maze

"Thank you…River." Whispered Leon at River's retreating back….

* * *

Yeah...its long...what do YOU think? Please review 


	7. Chapter 7

Alright I'm back from my hiatus...for the disclaimer, look back at the other chapters

* * *

_I wonder where he went off to, it's been two weeks now after the picnic, and yet I still have to look for him…_

"River, LOOK OUT!" River just then turned around and noticed scaffolding from the construction site was falling towards her, before she could even react; she was pinned to the ground about two meters away from the pile of broken scaffolding.

River then opened her eyes and saw a pair of worried stormy grey eyes; she then realized it was Leon.

"L-Leon…" stuttered River as she realized the awkward position the two of them were in

"River are you alright?"

"Um…well, yes…uh…could you…" River then tried to prop herself up, causing Leon to realize that he was still pinned on top of her, he quickly got off of her and nervously coughed, and said: "Uh, sorry about that."

"River! Leon! Are you two alright?" said Aerith as she ran over and kneeled next to River who was brushing wood chips from her hair, Yuffie, Cid, Merlin, Cloud and Tifa ran over to the three of them.

"Yes, we're fine, just probably a couple of scratches that's all." Smiled River as she glanced at Leon who was being helped up by Cloud, "Right?"

"Yes, I'm alright, what happened to the scaffolding?"

"It just suddenly fell as River was passing by; we checked all of them to be secure and even Merlin used magic to make sure they would not fall." said Cid as he scratched his head in bewilderment.

"What happened here?"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about here, Sora."

"Are you sure?" said a skeptical Donald Duck

"Hi-yuk, nobody is injured?" added Goofy

"Nope, just a few scratches that I think Aerith can heal up quite easily." Said River as she got up, brushing some of the dust off her shoulders.

"Come you two, let's go to my house." Aerith then steered Leon and River towards her house.

* * *

"Thanks for pulling me out of the way in time"

"It's no problem, just…this has never happened before, never once has Merlin's spells ever failed" grimaced Leon as Aerith put some disinfectant on a cut.

"River, could you clean this up for me? I need to get some extra potions." Aerith then left Leon and River alone with a smile as she went to the nearby store room to 'search' for more potions.

"Sorry, I know that this stuff stings…so how are you?"

"Besides, having scaffolding fall on us, I'm fine." smiled Leon

River smiled and turned to rinse a washcloth in a nearby bowl, "Hey, you know you got a cut there." Leon then pointed at her neck where a horizontal line of blood was slowly dripping.

"What? Huh? Ouch!"

"Here, don't move your neck so much, come here." Leon then got off of the stool and quickly picked up River and swiftly placed her on a seat, he then sat in front of her and rummaged through the safety kit that Aerith had left on the table.

"You know that I can walk, right?" said River with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed in mock annoyance.

_She looks cute like that; no I shouldn't be thinking about those things… where is the disinfectant?_

"Here." said River as she shoved the bottle of disinfectant into Leon's hands, and added, "You were looking so hard for it, and yet it was right there next to the thread." smirked River

"Thanks."

"No problem…ouch...what is that stuff made of?" River then pushed Leon's hand away and pressed her hand to the cut, she then pulled it away and realized that there was even more blood on her hands.

"Don't do that, here." Leon then grabbed River's hand and examined it, there was a piece of a sliver from the wooden scaffolding in her hand, "I think you have a sliver in that cut. Don't move." Leon then pulled out the tweezers and tried to pull out the rest of the sliver, when instead it got pushed in some more.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't talk… I lost it…there's no other alternative." Leon then impulsively tipped River's head to the side and he covered the cut with his lips and began to suck the sliver out. _I can't believe that I'm actually doing this, hopefully Aerith doesn't see this or she might get ideas…_

"Leon!" gasped River as she realized the position they were in, she then noticed that one of Leon's arms was circled around her waist while the other grasped the back of her head, and her own hands were grasping onto Leon's toned arms, the image of Dracula and his prey came to her mind…

* * *

_Oh my, I never would have thought that leaving the two of them together would end up like this, yes! There's a camera in here, Oh and there's five exposures left, he he, I don't think that the two of them would mind if I took a few pictures…_ Aerith then carefully snapped some choice photos of: Leon clinging onto River, Leon pulling away from River, River turning slightly pink as Leon swiped some blood away from her neck and some other juicy photos that she knew would get the stoic Leon to lighten up a bit. She then took the roll of film out and placed it in her pocket and quickly grabbed a few potions.

"Oh!" said Aerith as she just saw Leon reaching for a tissue and River who was shocked still at seeing Aerith suddenly appear.

"Uh…Aerith…" said River in surprise, Leon turned around in surprise and quickly wiped his mouth with a tissue.

"Should I leave the two of you alone?" Aerith then walked over to the two of them with a smirk

"Ha ha, very funny Aerith."

"Leon was just removing a sliver that I had in this cut." River then pointed to the cut on her neck, Aerith then looked at it and said: "hmm, looks like its going to be fine, here take this." She then handed River a potion and before River could ask why she only gave her one potion, Aerith quickly turned around and before she left the room she added offhandedly: "You two can share that, he he. Well I should go help with the clean up, see you _two_ later."

"Aerith." said Leon in with a warning tone

Aerith just ignored him and waved back with a smile and a wink and shut the door.

Leon gave a big sigh and turned to a sniggering River, "What?"

"No, it's just that, you still got some of my blood on your lips, no wonder Aerith thought that there was something funny going on between us." River then took another tissue and wiped the blood away. "Well, I'm going to clean this up alright?" River then stood up, but before she could move away, Leon grabbed her wrist and stopped her, "No, let me help you."

"You sure about that I mean I'm already a mess with this-

"I'm sure." said Leon firmly, he then pulled her back towards her seat and began to clean and dress her cuts.

* * *

Yep, there you have it, chapter 8 is coming along nicely...I'll post it later, review please, its not manditory, but still its nice to hear what you think 


	8. Chapter 8

Alright, Here's chapter 8, disclaimers: refer to previous chapters, enjoy!

* * *

"Sora!"

"Huh? Oh, River what's up?"

"Can we talk?"

"Sure." River then lead Sora over to the Bailey and leaned on the ledge watching the last of the crimson rays of the sun, cast distorted shadows on the last of the shopkeepers closing up. Sora then leaned back against the ledge and stretched his arms, "So what did you want to talk about?"

River then straightened up and turned toward Sora and looked him in the eye and said: "How did you get the keyblade?"

"Well…it just appeared in front of me."

"It just appeared?"

"Yeah, back at Destiny Island, when the heartless first appeared, the keyblade just appeared and a voice said to use it, so I did."

"Was the voice a male voice?"

"Um…I…think so, why?"

"I see…" Sora then turned toward River who was lost in her thoughts;_ can it be him? Did he actually give the Kingdom Key to Sora? _"River?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Why? Why do you ask?"

"I-

"River, Sora, -uh…" said Leon as he stopped and realized that he just walked in and interrupted River, "Sorry, Aerith wanted me to let you know that dinner is almost ready, so you guys should head back."

"Dinner?! Awesome!" said Sora with excitement, totally forgetting the question that he had just asked, "Come on! Let's go." and he ran up the stairs

"You go ahead Sora, I'll be right behind." said River with a slightly troubled look on her face

"River? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Come let's go, Aerith must have made something good." said River and she put on a smile and started up the stairs, before she could even put her foot down on the first step, Leon grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"River, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine, it's nothing, come let's hurry or else there will be no food left." said River with a smile.

* * *

During dinner, Leon every so often glanced at River who was picking at her food and giving forced smiles, when a joke was told. After the whole affair, she went out without a word. 

"Leon, can you go out and give River a coat, it's still chilly in the evenings." Said Aerith as she washed the dishes

"And can you check up on her too? She barely ate anything or spoken tonight" asked Tifa as she dried and stacked the dishes

Leon just nodded and left without a word, Aerith and Tifa both looked at each other, noticing that Leon left without an extra coat.

* * *

_Sora is the chosen keyblade wielder…a male voice told him to use it…Destiny Island…heartless…a male voice…it could be him…_ River then wrapped her hands around her arms and gazed up at the stars from the roof of Aerith's house, she suddenly felt a presence behind her and quickly turned around and saw Leon about to place his fur collared jacket over her shoulders. 

"Oh, you scared me."

"Sorry, it's cold out here." Leon then placed his jacket on River's shoulders to emphasize his point.

"Thank you, how did you know where to find me?"

"I sometimes come here to think too, plus I saw you jump here from the Bailey." said Leon with a smile "Is there something you want to talk about?"

River hesitated then turned to Leon who stood beside her with a worried expression on his face, "I…I…no, it's fine, I'll figure this out, thank you for your concern, but it's nothing you should worry about." River then took Leon's jacket off her shoulders and handed it back to Leon and walked to edge of the roof and jumped back towards the Bailey, before he could stop her and said: "Thank you." and disappeared into the shadows of the Bailey.

Leon stood there watching River head over to the Crystal Caves and said to no one in particular: "But, it is something that I worry about."

* * *

"Is she alright?" 

"What?" said Leon as he looked over his shoulder at Cloud who was approaching him

"River. Is she alright?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah? That's all you can say?" said Cloud disbelievingly as he casually stood at one end of the plateau with his sword drawn

"She said that she will figure it out." Leon then stretched and moved his head to loosen his muscles and then stood at ready with his gunblade out, ready for their routine morning spar.

"_She said that she will figure it out."_ mimicked Cloud as readied himself, "Come on Leon, you gotta make your move."

"Make my move? What do you mean by that?!" Leon then charged at Cloud and slashed, hitting air, as Cloud quickly dodged his attack, "I mean that you have to tell her how you feel." Cloud then flipped over Leon, and took a swipe at Leon, in which he countered with his gunblade.

"Tell her how I feel? I don't feel anything towards her, but friendship." Leon then pushed Cloud's sword away and gave off a quick blast of energy at Cloud, who countered with his own energy blast causing Leon to dodge roll away and blast a stronger energy blast, which slightly singed Cloud's pants

"Whoa, someone's really touchy this morning." Cloud then quickened his speed and slashed and hacked at Leon who blocked almost all of the attacks except one which tore his jacket sleeve. "Hey, this is my favourite jacket you know!" Leon then quickly striped his jacket off and threw it off the side and added: "You're going to be fixing that after."

"How about we make a bet? If I lose my sword, I get Aerith to fix your jacket and if you lose you…" Cloud then smirked and said: "you have to admit that you have actual _romantic_ feelings toward River." Cloud then charged at a shocked Leon, who managed to at the last minute to block Cloud's sword from taking his head off.

"Alright, you got a deal…though don't expect to win." Leon then quickly turned around and cut multiple slashes at Cloud, who managed to back away from the cuts at last minute, leaving him with his navy blue sweater in shreds on the ground and topless, showing his washboard abs.

"You're going to be paying for that Lionhead." Cloud then back flipped over Leon and with a swift motion he cut Leon's white sleeveless shirt in bits, leaving Leon with shreds of white cloth as a shirt and also exposing his washboard abs. Leon then dodged Cloud's wide slash and blasted an energy globe at Cloud, in which Cloud dodge rolled out of the way and jumped up and ran up against a large boulder and flipped over and clashed with Leon's gunblade. Cloud then pushed off of Leon's gunblade and twisted like a cat in the air and landed on the ground in a crouch as if ready to pounce at any movement that Leon would make. Leon then charged, when out of the corner of his eye something flashed and flew directly at Cloud, he then ran over and pushed Cloud to the ground, landing on top of him. The object that was thrown flew over their heads and skidded to a stop five meters away from them.

"Cloud, you alright?" concern visible in Leon's stormy grey eyes

"Yeah I'm fine, what the hell was that?" said Cloud as he was helped up by Leon and brushed himself off and walked over to examine the object.

"What is it?" Asked Leon as he walked over to Cloud with a towel and a water bottle in his right hand and a towel around his neck and another water bottle in his left hand, he then kneeled next to Cloud who picked the object up.

"I dunno it looks like some sort of pendant. Thanks." Cloud then handed it over to Leon and grabbed the extra towel and water bottle from his hands. Leon looked at the pendant closely; it was in the shape of a heart, with two intricately designed keys crossed over the center and a single diamond placed where the keys met. "I've seen this somewhere before."

"What? You saw this same symbol somewhere?" said a curious Cloud as he looked at Leon who was gazing off in the distance thinking, "Yeah, something like this but slightly different."

"Where? Where did you see this Leon?" Leon then stood up and collected his gunblade and jacket and ran off towards Aerith's house, "Leon?!" Cloud then picked up his sword and ran after Leon, who disappeared inside Aerith's house.

* * *

"Leon?! What's wrong?" said a surprised Aerith as a topless Leon just burst into her house, "Where's River?" 

"She's with Tifa and the others, doing some shopping and Leon what happened to your shirt and jacket?"

"Leon! What's –oh…Aerith…um…uh…" said Cloud as he realized that he was topless and slightly breathless from chasing after Leon.

"Hmm…maybe I should get you two to go to your rooms and change, then you two can explain to me why you both came barging in, acting like it's the end of the world and bringing all this mess with you." said Aerith as she looked the two of them up and down, and the track of mud and dust that they brought in, and smiled a almost evil looking smile.

"Uh…right…" trailed off Leon as he and Cloud quickly ran up the stairs and fought over who would get to use the upstairs shower first.

"Tsk…boys will be boys." said Aerith with a smile and a shake of her head

* * *

"Sorry about the mess." Said Leon as he and Cloud were both helping Aerith clean the mess the two of them brought in. 

"Wow, who would have thought that the two of you would look so adorable in aprons?" smirked River as she came in the door with Tifa, Yuffie, Sora, Donald and Goofy, each one of them carrying two grocery bags in their hands.

"Oh, Hey Tifa get the disposable camera out, quick!" Tifa then quickly put her bags down and took out a camera and passed it over to Yuffie who then jumped in front of Leon and Cloud who tried to sneak away, and snapped a few pictures of Leon and Cloud trying to get away from Yuffie and her camera.

"Alright, alright, calm down, I'll stop taking pictures." Leon and Cloud then walked back in and Yuffie took one last picture of two walking in and ran off, screaming that she was sorry as Cloud chased after her.

"Hey, Cloud! Stop chasing after Yuffie and help us with the bags of flour at the front door." Called out River as she starting taking things out of the grocery bags and setting them on the counter.

* * *

"River, can I speak with you after dinner in private?" asked Leon as he helped River unpack the last of the grocery bags. 

"Sure." smiled River "Is it really important? If it is we can talk now."

"…No it can wait till after dinner."

"What can wait till after dinner? Huh Leon?" said Yuffie as she came in with the last bag of flour.

"It's none of your business."

Yuffie then pouted, but then suddenly she said: "Fine."

"Fine?" said a surprised Leon and River at the same time

"Uh huh, see you later!" Yuffie then ran out of the kitchen with a smirk on her face and headed up stairs to tell Aerith, Tifa, and Cloud that Leon has something to say to River after dinner...

* * *

Uh huh, Please review, ya know...this chapter took a while to figure out...so many characters...its like having a merry-go-round of them arguing to get more 'screen' time...eh heh heh...review or I'll have nightmares of Donald Duck coming around to annoy the heck outta me to make him the main character...scary (_shudders)_


	9. Chapter 9

_okay, so my updating sucks...disclaimer: see previous chapters ...anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

"I have an announcement; I heard from Michael that the construction on the main castle is finished!" said Aerith as she placed a bowl of carrots on the table, "So I was thinking that we should have a ball there…" 

"A…what?!" choked Leon as he took his seat at the dinner table.

"Come on Leon! It's going to be fun, please?" Yuffie then put on her best trampled puppy dog face and sat right across from Leon who narrowed his eyes at her.

"What's going to be fun?" River then took her seat between Sora and Tifa.

"I'll tell everyone once their all here, Where is Cloud and Cid?" asked Aerith as she took her seat and picked up her napkin and placed it on her lap.

"Sorry we're late." said Cloud as he walked in and took a seat with Cid coming up behind him with a grin on his face "Mmm, smells good Aerith, as always yer cookin' is the best."

"Thank you Cid. Okay, since everyone is here, I have an announcement, since the construction on the castle is finished, we should have a ball there, it could be a farewell ball for Sora since he has to leave and find Riku and King Mickey." said Aerith as she passed the baked rolls around.

"Sora, you have to leave?" asked a surprised River.

"Yeah, I need to find Riku and King Mickey, I don't actually live here, remember I told you that I live on Destiny Island."

"Who's Riku?"

"He's my best friend, hey River, since you just appeared here, have you seen him? He has silver hair and turquoise eyes, and he's a year older than me."

"Sorry, I haven't seen or heard of anyone by that name or appearance." said River with a weak smile.

"Oh…"

"Don't worry Sora, you'll find 'em, eat up you need energy to find 'em." Cid then looked up from his plate to the stares that everyone was giving him and gruffly said: "What?! He will find 'em."

"Right!" Sora then started to stuff his face with food.

* * *

After dinner while everyone was cleaning up, Leon quietly walked over to River who was just tying up the trash bag, and was getting up to throw it out. 

"River, can I speak with you?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah sure, just let me throw this out." River then picked up a trash bag and moved to grab the other, but Leon picked it up before she could and waved a hand towards the back door. "Thanks." And River opened the door and stepped outside to the slightly warm evening.

* * *

"Come on, let's go." Whispered Yuffie as she, Cid, Merlin, Tifa and a reluctant Cloud being pulled by Aerith sneaked over to the sink and ducked down by the open window to listen to Leon speak to River.

* * *

"River, can I see your weapon?" 

"My weapon? Uh sure." River then pushed back her right sleeve and took a small bracelet off her wrist, it glowed and grew to a large ring of thirteen swords, she then passed it over to Leon who examined each of the swords and let out a gasp.

"What is it?"

"What does this symbol represent? It's on all the swords." Leon then pointed near the hilt of a sword, where a symbol of a heart with two intricate keys crossed over the center and a single amethyst jewel placed where the two keys crossed. _Just like the one we found this morning but it has a diamond instead._

"Um…hey! Let's go back inside its cold. C'mon." River then pulled on Leon's wrist and headed towards the door.

"River, what are you hiding?" Leon stood his ground as he looked River in the eye, she looked back at him hesitantly and then looked down, letting a curtain of hair block the expression on her face.

"We found this." Leon then pulled out the small pendant from his pocket and held it in his hand, River's eyes grew in surprise, as she picked up the pendant, "Where did you find this?"

"This morning, Cloud and I were in the middle of our spar at the large plateau when this was thrown at us. I knew I recognized it when I saw it, what does it represent?" Leon looked at River questioningly, who was looking off towards the few stars that were weakly shining as the sky grew dark. _Where are you?_

"…River?"

"…we should head back in." River then turned toward the door and snapped her fingers and her weapon appeared back on her wrist as a bracelet, pocketed the pendant and took a step forward when she was suddenly pulled back and spun around to face Leon who blocked the door.

"Leon." said River, as she calmly waited for Leon to respond.

"What are you hiding from me…no us?"

"We are all entitled to our own secrets, and this is one thing that I prefer not to talk about, now please move." River moved her hand to grasp the doorknob when the door opened; causing Leon to lose his balance on the door that he was leaning on and collapse on top of Sora.

"Mmmph…" Leon then quickly got off of Sora and pulled him up "Sorry."

"Sora! Leon! Are you two alright?" Aerith, Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie then quickly came over and to check if anyone was injured.

"I'm alright, just a bit surprised, what were you doing outside Leon?" asked Sora

"I was just talking to River- wait…River?" Leon then turned around and stood up, River was gone.

* * *

_So any suggestions? Should I concentrate on the blooming romance or the plot line? Let me know_


	10. Chapter 10

_Okay...here we go, disclaimer: you know the drill...enjoy!_

_

* * *

Thank you Sora..._ River sat down against a large crystal protruding from the ground in the crystal cave, as she regained her breath; she pulled out the pendant, reminiscing…

* * *

"_Give it back!"_

"_You can't catch me Adria!" _

_A young dark haired girl chased after a tall young man carrying what looked like a large key._

"_Eryx, give it back to her, you know that you shouldn't even be touching it."_

* * *

"_Weiss! Where are you going?!"_

"_I need to stop him."_

"_Wait!"

* * *

_

River opened her eyes and realized that she had tears in her eyes; she then noticed a tissue in front of her face, "Take it." River looked up and saw Leon holding the tissue, "Go ahead…I brought a box of them." At that comment River smiled and took the tissue and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have pushed you so far."

"It's alright, how- how did you know where to find me."

"Well, um I had Merlin use a tracing spell." said Leon sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck, River then laughed, the sound and the look on her face made Leon's heart beat even faster.

"Thank you for understanding."

* * *

"So what did you talk about?" asked Cloud as he helped Leon put in new light bulbs for the chandelier in the ballroom of the castle. 

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Define nothing when the two of you were gone for at least 45 minutes." smirked Cloud

"We just sat there in silence."

"What?! You guys just sat there in silence?!"

"What are you, a parrot? What are the others up to?" said Leon as he pointedly looked at Cloud to signify the end of _that_ conversation

"Fine, _Leon_, Aerith and Merlin are both at Aerith's kitchen doing lots of cooking; though don't go in there till she's done."

"Why not?"

"You don't want to know, I just managed to get away before Aerith asked me to do the dishes." Leon winced in memory of the last time they had to wash dishes for one of Aerith's bake-a-thons, they couldn't even lift their weapons for two weeks after all the scrubbing they did.

"Uh, Tifa, Yuffie, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are out getting decorations, and I think River is with Cid in the garage. So you going to the ball? It's two days from now."

"No."

"Um, you know that the Triple Threat will come after you if you don't."

"So, let them come, I'm still not going."

"Is it because of a certain someone…who has decided that their not going?"

"She has nothing to do with it."

"She? Now we're being more specific."

"That's-

"HEY! We're back!" Yelled Yuffie as she bounced into the ballroom with two bags full of balloons.

"What did you guys get?" asked Cloud as he came down the ladder

"Balloons, streamers, confetti, some cleaning supplies since everything is still messy from the construction and I'm going to get the helium for the balloons later since we don't want those two to be touching the stuff right now." said Tifa as she looked back at Sora and Yuffie who were both about to open a package of confetti before she turned and grabbed the bag away from them.

"Can you guys handle the rest? I'm going to go check the rest of the reconstruction." said Leon as he came down the ladder with the last of the unused light bulbs

"Sure, you go ahead." said Tifa as she began to unpack the bag full of cleaning supplies and handed a broom, dustpan and a mop to a groaning Sora, Yuffie and Donald.

* * *

"Hey there." 

"Oh hey Leon, could you bring the hose over?" asked River as she picked up a sponge and scrubbed Sora's gummy ship.

"Sure, so you're cleaning Sora's ship?"

"Yeah, it's the least I could do for him since he's leaving soon. Just spray over here." River then pointed to the front of the ship and moved over to the side so she would not get wet.

Leon then picked up the hose and walked over to the front and began spraying the ship when an idea came to mind, Leon then pretended to pull on the hose and not notice that he was coming around to the side that River was cleaning, he then held the hose so that no water came out of it and called out to River: "Hey!"

"Huh?" Leon then let lose the hose he was holding and sprayed River.

"HEY! Ah! So you want to play that way huh?" River then picked up the bucket of soapy water and threw it at Leon, causing him to be totally drenched in soap water. Leon then looked up at River with a smirk and began chasing after her with the hose.

_What is going on outside?_ Cid then got up from his desk and looked out the window smiling as Leon chased after River with the hose, he then took his reading glasses off and shook his head and sat back down and muttered: "Finally he learns to have some fun."

* * *

"STOP!...stop…"said River as she bent down and clutched her knees and caught her breath, Leon stood a few feet behind River out of breath from laughing and chasing after her, when suddenly he was hit with a soapy sponge. The sponge fell from Leon's face and landed with a splat on the ground, he just stood there looking at the sponge as if confused as to how it got there. 

"Leon? Leon are you all right?" River then walked up to Leon and stood in front of him when he suddenly lifted the hose and was about to spray River as she was about to run away when she slipped on the soapy sponge. As she was about to hit the ground Leon quickly dropped the hose and ran over and cushioned her fall.

"Huh?" River then opened her eyes expecting to see the ground, to her surprise she was sprawled on top of Leon, who had his arms around her waist.

"Leon! Are you alright? I could have taken that fall." said River as she moved to get off of him. "Leon? You can let go of me now."

"You're so beautiful…" whispered Leon

"What? Leon, come on, it's time to get up, and I've got to finish cleaning the ship." said River as she moved and this time Leon reluctantly let go of her.

* * *

_Yep the ending of this chapter was bittersweet don't you think?_

**Extra Special Note:** _hehe, you may be wondering...'Who are those three in River's memories?' well, you'll find out...now for a few explanations_

_Eryx: male, his name is pronounced 'Erics' Just think of the 'y' as an 'i' . His name is from a Greek mythological figure. _

_Weiss: male, his means 'White' in German, his name sounds like 'wise'_

_Adria: Her (finally a chick eh? haha) name is pronounced as 'Ah-dria'. Her name is actually the latin form of Aubrey (though her name is not Aubrey, interestingly enough Aubrey is old German for 'elf' or supernatural being, power)_


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: You know, and I know it...so on with the story, enjoy!_

* * *

"Tifa…Tifa…Oi TIFA!" 

"I can hear you Yuffie, you don't need to yell." said Tifa as she turned around to Yuffie who ran towards her from the main doors. "What's the matter?"

"It's River! She's not going!" said an out of breath Yuffie

"Hmm, that's going to be troublesome, I just found out from Cloud that Leon isn't going either…by the way, where were you for the last 15 minutes?" said Tifa with narrowed eyes.

"Well…I went to see if Aerith needed any help with the cooking, you know and I bumped into River who looked like she got a bucket of water dumped on her, so I asked her about the ball…and…and…I don't want to clean any more…this ballroom is huge." Yuffie then collapsed on the dusty floor; she then pointed to herself, and said: "Give me a 10 minute break, please….pretty please?" she then put on her best puppy dog look.

"Nice try Yuffie, it won't work for me, c'mon go help Sora with the windows, I should be done sweeping when your done then we can 'skate'." smiled Tifa.

"Skate?" said Yuffie as she sat up at the word.

"Yep, I have a lot of rags that we can use, we just got to soak up the floor then we have our own makeshift 'skating' rink." said Tifa with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes

"Alright! Sora, Donald, Goofy, don't you guys hog all the windows!" Yuffie then ran over and grabbed a spray bottle and some towels.

"What did you say to her this time?"

"Oh! Cloud! You scared me…I didn't say anything." said Tifa innocently

"You didn't…no…not." Cloud then covered his face and shook his head, when Tifa slowly nodded. "You remember the last time you turned a large area into a 'skating' rink?"

"Oh, that was nothing; anyways Merlin fixed it all in the end so it's okay." said Tifa with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, Sora what's your island like?" asked Yuffie as she opened a pair of cleaned windowed balcony doors. 

"My island, well…it's really nice there, white beaches, turquoise waters, paopu fruit…" said Sora with a dreamy look

"Sora, are you thinking of a certain red head?" smirked Yuffie

"Wha- what do you mean?" Sora then blushed a painful shade of red, and then scratched the back of his head.

"What's paopu fruit?" asked Donald.

"It's a star-shaped fruit; legend says that if you and a person you really care about eat it together, your destinies are forever intertwined." recited Sora.

"Forever intertwined you say…" said Yuffie as she rubbed her chin in thought.

"Hey ya looks like Tifa's a calling us to come over there." said Goofy as he put down a spray bottle.

* * *

"Look out here I come! Whooo!" 

"What's going on in there?" asked Aerith.

River shrugged, and then opened the main doors and to her surprise, Yuffie suddenly went flying past yelling out: "Hiiiiiii- Ouch!" Sprawled in a corner of the ballroom were Sora, Yuffie and Goofy sitting on the floor rubbing their heads.

"Aerith! River! Hey there, just a second." Tifa then gracefully slid over to River and Aerith, "I thought you were cleaning the ballroom, not um…skating?" said River with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, yeah we are cleaning, see." Tifa then stepped off of the wet rags and lifted them up to show the dirt on them.

"Yeah, she's somewhat cleaning." Tifa then lightly punched Cloud's arm, "What? What are you going to do about the excess water in here?" said Cloud with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh…I never thought of that." Tifa then smiled and suddenly called out: "Leon! Is everything alright with the reconstruction…huh? You changed?" Tifa, Aerith, Cloud and River looked at Leon, he was dressed a white T-shirt and jeans. "Wait a minute you changed too, River." said Tifa as she suddenly noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual black form fitting robes. All eyes then turned towards River who was wearing white sun dress instead, she then coughed and cleared her throat, "Anyways…besides my change in wardrobe, we brought some snacks." River and Aerith both lifted the two baskets that they had in their hands.

"Snacks?" said Yuffie who suddenly appeared in front of River, she then looked at both River and Leon up and down. "What happened to the two of you?"

"You guys brought snacks?" said Sora as he slid over then suddenly fell forward as Donald and Goofy crashed into him from behind.

"Nothing happened between the two of us." said Leon as he looked Yuffie in the eye to signal to her to not press the subject.

"Actually, something did happen." said River not noticing the slightly panicked look that Leon was trying not to show but was quickly losing it. "I was cleaning Sora's gummy ship, when I asked Leon to help me, but he decided to have a water fight instead of cleaning." River crossed her arms trying to look angry but eventually smiled, and helped Sora, Donald and Goofy up from the wet floor.

"A water fight?!" Yuffie then looked a Leon with wide eyes, as Aerith and Tifa both smiled and Cloud mouthed to Leon: "I knew it."

"Yeah, water fight." Said River as she turned around from helping Sora up. "So let's um…clear out the water then eat."

* * *

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, can you guys get River to go to the ball?" said Yuffie between mouthfuls of Aerith's famous brownies. 

"Does this have anything to do with you guys-" Sora then looked at Cloud, Aerith and Tifa, "You guys and your plan to get Leon and River together?"

"How- how did you know that?" said a surprised Yuffie

"C'mon Yuffie, give him some credit, from the way that your acting, it's pretty obvious what your planning to do." said Cloud as he looked at Yuffie.

"Well, can you?" said Yuffie as she looked around to make sure that Leon was still standing outside at the balcony and that River wasn't back from getting more food.

"We can try…right guys?" Sora then looked at Goofy and Donald, the two of them nodded and Donald added: "Heh heh, we won't tell anyone that you talked to us." Donald and Goofy then winked and smiled.

* * *

"River! Need some help?" called out Sora as he, Donald, and Goofy ran over to River who just appeared at the door with another basket of snacks, "Oh, it's okay I've got it." 

"Hey are you going to the ball? It's in two days." asked Donald.

"Actually I'm not going."

"Why not?" Goofy then scratched his head in bewilderment.

"Well, to be honest I've only met you for a couple of weeks and-

"We want you to come!" interrupted Donald

"Yeah, we don't care about that stuff, you're our friend and we want you at our farewell ball." smiled Sora.

"Hi-yuk, it would be so sad if you didn't come." said Goofy.

"Please come?" Sora, Donald and Goofy then gave River their best puppy dog face.

River then smiled and laughingly said: "Alright, alright, who could ever say 'no' to three faces like that."

"So you're coming?" said Sora

"Yes, I'm coming." said River laughingly, she then ruffed Sora's hair and then began taking more cookies out of the basket that she brought in.

Sora, Donald and Goofy then turned around and they all stuck their thumbs up and winked at Yuffie, Tifa and Aerith who were watching them.

"Guys? You want some more cookies?" asked River

"Huh? Uh, yeah sure!" said a slightly flustered Sora as he turned around to get the cookies from River.

* * *

"Okay, so we got River…now we gotta find a way to get Leon to go, he's so stubborn. You guys have any idea as to how to get Leon to come to the ball?" asked Yuffie 

"Well, we could tell him that River is going…"

"That's not going to work Tifa, you know how he is, once he makes up his mind." said Cloud

"True…what _can _we do?" Tifa the looked at Aerith who hadn't said a word for a while now, "Aerith?"

"I have an idea…" Aerith then took out a roll of film from her pocket, and played with it. _I totally forgot about this…I knew those pictures would come in handy someday_….

* * *

_So what do you think...it's getting pretty interesting eh? heh heh heh _


	12. Chapter 12

_Whoo, boy this is amazing I've gotten this far...Disclaimer: as usual check previous chapters for it. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Leon, are you going to the ball?"

"No."

"Leon are you going to the ball?"

"Yuffie I just said 'No'" said an exasperated Leon as he turned around to Yuffie who had been following him around and sounding like a broken record since he got out of bed this morning.

"Leon- "Yuffie for the last time NO." said Leon in a strained voice as he tried to calm himself down.

"No, it's not that, Aerith wants to talk to you." Yuffie then bounced away smiling.

"Oh, Aerith…is everything okay?" Leon then ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Everything is fine…so I take it that Yuffie has been at it since this morning." said a sympathetic Aerith, "I have something to ask you."

"Sure go ahead, I'm all ears." said Leon as he began walking towards the Bailey while Aerith walked with him.

"Leon…are you going to the ball? It's tomorrow night."

"Ye- what? Not you too. I told Yuffie, and I'm telling you now, _NO_ I am _not_ going to the ball."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Leon then turned his back towards the view that the Bailey gave and watched Aerith who was rummaging through her pockets.

"Maybe your mind may change..." Aerith then pulled out a photo and handed it over to Leon.

"I doubt it will chang- where…how…how did you get this." said a shocked Leon as he gazed at the photo of River and himself, while he was removing the sliver from River's neck, in an unconventional method. _No wonder why Aerith seemed particularly happy that day…_

"So have you changed your mind? I do have other photos." Aerith then smiled innocently and fanned out 4 photos and waved them about in front of Leon as he stood stock still following the movement of the photos with his eyes.

_I knew it she was evil…I guess I have no choice, even if I do go what can I wear… I have nothing that is appropriate…_ "…fine…you win...now hand over the photos and film." Leon then stuck his hand out patiently.

"Oh, no…you're not getting your hands on these until, _after_ the ball. Alright now we have to find you something to wear…c'mon." Aerith then took the photo that Leon was holding and placed all five of them in her pocket and dragged him over to the nearest tailor.

* * *

"Sir, what do you think of this one?" 

"I look like I just came out of a circus."

"Now, Leon," straining to keep a straight face Aerith, then added "do you have anything more…up to date?" Aerith then burst out laughing when Leon gave a sour look and turned back into the change room.

"I can't believe that I'm actually going through with this." said a muffled Leon as he changed into another suit from behind the curtain.

"Leon, just relax…oh, hey there Cloud, Cid, Sora, Donald, Goofy, are you all here to find something appropriate to wear for the ball?" asked Aerith

Cloud nodded and before he could say another word, Aerith stood up from her seat and headed toward the door. She then turned around and motioned for the five of them to huddle and whispered: "Can you guys take care of Leon? I need to go find River and find her an appropriate dress."

"We'll take care of 'im don't worry Aerith." said Cid as he looked at the others beside him and they nodded in agreement, "We'll make sure he looks good, now go find River." added Cloud. Aerith then smiled and left the store.

"Aerith, what about this- guys? What are you guys doing here?"

"What the hell ya wearing Leon?"

* * *

"You want me to wear that frilly dress thing?!" 

"River please, just try it on." Tifa then shoved said frilly dress into her hands and pushed her in the direction of the change rooms, River then slowly headed towards an empty room.

"Hey I found some more dresses." Called out Yuffie as she placed a pile of dresses on a nearby empty chair; from behind a curtain River gave an audible groan and called out, "how many more do I need to try on…we've been here since I got out of bed."

"We have to find you the perfect dress." Stated Aerith as she browsed some dresses.

* * *

"Come out Leon, we need to see how you look." said Sora 

"I look like a librarian." said Leon with a deadpan look on his face as he emerged from the change room.

"Not quite, you need a pipe and some glasses and your set." said Cloud with a smirk tugging at his lips

"Shut up." Leon then turned back into the change room listening to the sniggers of his friends.

* * *

"I look like a poodle." 

"Well a very pink poodle." sniggered Yuffie as she ducked when River threw a puffy pink hat at Yuffie.

* * *

"Ok this is the last one that I'm trying and then it's your guys' turn to play model." Called out Leon as he buttoned up the last button and brushed out any wrinkles _This one is not that bad_. 

"Whoa, this ones the one, I think." Cid then turned to Cloud, Sora, Donald and Goofy who all nodded with approving smiles.

"What do you think Leon?" asked Cloud as he came up behind Leon and straightened out the cloth around his shoulders.

"Okay." Leon then smiled a genuine smile at the tailor, who then rushed over and took note of the style and miscellaneous measurements.

* * *

"Whoa you look good in that black one." Yuffie then quickly took a Polaroid of River who blinked in surprise. 

"Could you at least give me a warning when you're going to do that, anyways what's with all the photos?"

"Well then we can compare and choose the best dress out of all of them." said Aerith with a smile; she then placed the photo that Yuffie just took on the table next to the other photos. River then the looked up at the ceiling and shook her head and headed over to the change room.

* * *

"I say the black one." said Yuffie as she looked at the three 'finalist' photos of the dresses the three of them had chosen while River was changing back into her regular clothes.

"This burgundy one is really nice." Tifa then picked up the dress and looked at it.

"Well, the final decision is yours." Aerith then picked up a photo of cream pink dress and compared it to flamingo pink dress. "Though I say, for the three of us, we think you look good in the white one." said Aerith with a twinkle in her eye.

"Alright, I'll get the white one." River then turned towards the Triple Threat and looked at them knowingly, "Okay, what's going on here, the three of you are up to something aren't you?"

"Nothing." said the three of them in unison and with smiles….

* * *

_Yeah this is sort of a filler chapter...anyways the fun will come, review if you want_


	13. Chapter 13

_Ok this is one of my longer chapters...disclaimer: see my profile...anyways...enjoy!_

* * *

He gazed down at the group crowded around Aerith's front door; the wind blew through his long silver-white hair as it reflected the full moon, at a height of 6 feet, wearing a suit of pure white with a black silk dress shirt, he looked like an angel, an angel of death standing there on thin air. He turned his ice-blue eyes towards a dark figure across from him, the figure; turned his head, causing the silver drawstrings on his black hooded cloak to clink together.

"I never would have expected to find you here…_Eryx_" said the silver-haired man

The figure in black lowered his hood, revealing a handsome face with long black hair tied back with a black ribbon, he then turned his blood-red eyes toward the man, and calmly said: "What are _you_ doing here, _Weiss_? You came to destroy this world too?"

"Me? Destroy this world? Just when I found her, I think not…what makes you think that I would do that?" Weiss then looked back down at the group, "Besides look how happy everyone is, even Cloud is smiling and look at how Sora is just grinning." He then pointed down at the group.

"I only came to see her, that's all, though she may have forgotten me, I think it's time that she knows the truth about herself." added Weiss as he turned back to look at Eryx who narrowed his eyes at him, at the mention of 'her'.

"She doesn't know herself because you _made_ her like that. Do you even know how much she looked up to you? If you hurt her anymore, I _will_ kill you." Eryx then put his hood back on and disappeared into the black portal he formed with the lift of his hand.

"Eryx, you should know that you cannot kill me without killing yourself." Said Weiss to thin air, he then chuckled to himself and disappeared into a white portal.

* * *

"Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie! C'mon you three, we're going to be late for the opening of the ball!" Called River from the bottom of the stairs, she then lifted her dress to start up the stairs and muttered: "I should have gotten the black one…I'm going to trip over this dress for sure tonight."

"No, you won't."

"Yuffie! You scared me." Yuffie then grinned, and spun around, and said: "What do you think?"

"You look amazing, as do you two do." said River has she looked at Yuffie's black spaghetti-strap dress, Tifa's burgundy vee-cut dress and Aerith's elegant pink rose coloured dress.

The door bell then rang and Aerith opened the door to Cloud, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cid and Merlin all of them wearing their best suits and wizard robes that they had or purchased.

"Wow Cid, you sure cleaned up well." said Yuffie with a grin as she pinned a flower to the lapel of his suit.

"Ah, yer not so bad yourself." said Cid gruffly, he then turned to a black suited Cloud who was having his flower pinned by Aerith and his tie being fixed by Tifa. "Where's Leon?"

"He said that he'll meet us there." said Cloud, who was starting to feel uncomfortable standing there being fussed upon like a child.

"Thank you Donald, I appreciate your compliments, but can you please hold still, I still haven't pinned your flower on." said River as she struggled with Donald who was animatedly complimenting on River's appearance. Goofy then walked over and held a grumbling Donald still. "Thank you Goofy and the three of you look dashing tonight." said River as she straightened herself up and examined the three of them with a critical eye.

Sora then turned slightly pink and mumbled: "You look nice too, River." She then walked over to Sora and fixed his tie and then ruffled his hair with a smile, "thank you."

"Alright, is everyone set?" Announced Aerith as she picked up an extra white rose corsage and headed towards the door.

* * *

As music played softly people drifted about the ballroom speaking to others or sitting at tables enjoying the dinner buffet that was placed along one side of the ballroom.

"Simply stunning, the three of you have done an amazing job with the ballroom and with no magic at that too!" said a cheerful Merlin as he spoke with the Triple Threat.

"So Leon, are you going to put your eyes back into their sockets and ask River for a dance or two?" said Cloud as he came up to Leon with a glass of punch.

Leon then narrowed his eyes and said: "Very funny." Cloud then smirked and continued on with this line of conversation: "Well, you were or should I say still staring at her since the moment she came through those doors."

Leon then glared at Cloud and walked over to the balcony with his glass of punch.

* * *

"River!"

"Tifa is there something wrong?" said River as she turned towards Tifa who was holding the extra corsage that Aerith brought with her.

"River, I was wondering if you seen Leon?"

"Um…actually I have, he's outside at the balcony."

"Oh! Good! Here, can you give this too him…um…I need to bake the ice cream, bye." Tifa then quickly shoved the corsage into River's hands and disappeared into the crowd around the buffet table.

"But- 'bake the ice cream'?" River then smiled and shook her head and walked over to the balcony.

"Yes, it worked, good job Tifa." said Yuffie as she watched River head over to the balcony.

"Yeah, but I said: 'bake the ice cream', I can't believe that I said that."

"Oh, don't worry about that Tifa, at least she's going to be the one that is pinning it on him." said Aerith with a smile.

* * *

"Leon? Leon are you out here?" Leon then turned around at the call of his name and suddenly stiffened at the sight of River who looked breathtaking in her white dress, standing by the doors holding a white rose corsage. He then stepped into the light that was pouring out of the ballroom, and walked over to River.

"Yes? Is there something wrong?" _I must be dreaming this is River right? She looks exactly how Rinoa did at that dance._

"No, it's just that Tifa wanted me to give this to you." River then lifted the corsage, and added: "May I?" she then pointed it in the direction of his lapel. Leon nodded and swallowed nervously, he then stepped closer to River and said in a low voice: "You look amazing tonight." She then looked up from pinning the corsage and smiled, "thank you, as do you. Why don't you come inside, the band is about to start. C'mon." She then grabbed his hand and dragged him back inside.

* * *

"It's amazing how you integrated yourself into this group, _River_" said Weiss as he appeared on the balcony and watched as River lead Leon towards the table where Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Merlin and Sora were seated.

"She doesn't need your help to make friends, after all the things you did to her, the least you could do is let her enjoy this night."

"Eryx, so glad of you to make it." Weiss then turned around to Eryx who had his arms folded and was scowling at him. "Now, don't give me that look, you know that she is important to the _both_ of us, let's play fair, you'll get your chance at playing hero. After all, _Leon_ here is becoming…what's the right word…attached…."

"_Weiss_, I warned you before and I'll warn you again, you do anything to hurt- "Yes, yes, you're going to hurt me, blah blah blah, wait, do I sense jealousy coming from you? Are you _jealous_ of Leon?" Weiss then appeared in front of Eryx and had his face so close that Eryx could see specks of pale blue in Weiss' eyes.

"What are you talking about?" said Eryx calmly as he stepped back from the taller man.

"You are." said Weiss knowingly, he then spun around and watched as a young man approached River and asked her to dance. "You have feelings for her. I can tell, even though you act all 'I'm Mr. Don't give a damn', you still care for her."

"What? No smart come back?" Weiss then turned his head to look at Eryx who still had his arms crossed, but with an annoyed look on his face.

"I could say the same to you." Eryx then walked past Weiss, as he did, his black hooded cloak shifted into a black suit, he then pulled a blood red long stem rose out of his pocket, and walked into the ballroom.

"Touché, so you want to play it that way huh?" Weiss then smirked and ran his hand through his hair, and his own clothes shifted into an extravagant suit that would shame even the richest in Port Royal. He then headed toward ballroom.

* * *

The chatter in the whole ballroom went silent when a handsome stranger approached River with a long stem rose in his hands. "May I have this dance?" said the stranger as he placed the rose on the table in front of a surprised River.

"Oh, um sure." River then carefully got up and the stranger led her towards the dance floor, as the music began to start up, she then turned back to see the Triple Threat, Sora, Goofy and Donald looking as bewildered as she was to who this person was.

* * *

"Um, excuse me…I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" asked River as the stranger spun her around. "I'm- "My lady, you simply are breathtaking." said an angelic faced silver haired man as he deftly moved so that River was in his arms, he then quickly turned away, leading River toward the center of the dance floor. She turned her head quickly to find the dark haired stranger but he was gone.

"Whoa, um…ok hold it. Before there are any more appearing and disappearing acts, I want you to tell me who you are." said River as she stood in front of the man with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. The man smiled, leaned in towards her and said in a conspiratorial tone: "You'll find out, my dear _Adria_." He then winked and walked off leaving a stunned River standing alone in the middle of the dance floor.

* * *

"Wow, that man is gorgeous, I can't believe that we never seen him before, even that man with the silver hair in that 16th century get up is beautiful, River is so lucky." Yuffie then turned to Cloud, Leon, Cid and Merlin who had just came back from taking a breather outside. "Where were you?" Yuffie looked pointedly at Leon and continued "You guys have such bad timing; River just got snagged by two of the most gorgeous guys we have ever seen, see she's talking to one of them right now." Everyone turned to the dance floor and saw that River was just standing there on her own.

"What men, yer talking about, it's just River." Cid then added "Leon, git yer ass over there, you shouldn't leave her standing in the middle of the dance floor on her own." Before Leon could walk over to the dance floor, River was already heading towards them with a confused look on her face.

"River? Is everything alright?" Leon then came up to River and led her to a seat by the table, he then took a seat next to her and watched as she picked up a glass of water and took a sip. River then turned towards the others and said with a smile: "I'm alright; just a bit flustered that's all." She then turned to Leon and looked him in the eye and said: "Really I am fine, there's no need to worry about me, go on Leon, and I think those ladies behind you would like to dance with you. Now if you excuse me." River then got up from her seat and went over to the buffet table with Sora, Donald and Goofy.

* * *

"We gotta get them to dance." said Cid once Leon left the table with three giggling girls in tow.

"Well, just about every male here has asked River to a dance except Leon." said Aerith as she fiddled with a cocktail stir stick in her drink. "And it looks like Leon is refusing to dance with those three." Aerith shook her head and smiled "Leon, should have known better than to get up from the table, he mislead those three in thinking that he was going to dance with them."

"I'll be right back." said Yuffie as she ran off towards River at the buffet table, she then 'accidentally' bumped into River who then bumped into Leon who was standing next to her and she spilled the glass of ice water she was holding onto Leon.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry River." said Yuffie as innocently as possible without smirking, "Well, I guess the only way for you to make it up to Leon is to dance with him." Yuffie then bounced off laughing towards their table.

"I'm sorry about that Leon." River then picked up a set of napkins and began to dab at Leon's suit. "It's alright, its just water, no harm done." Leon then bent down and began to pick up the broken pieces of glass, when Merlin came over and magically put the pieces back together again. "There, no need to worry about broken glass, now go enjoy the evening you two." Merlin then walked away with a smile.

"Well, I guess Yuffie and Merlin are right. C'mon you." River then pulled a surprised Leon to the dance floor and then placed his hands onto her in a dance position; she then began to lead him across the dance floor.

_I…__is this__ déjà__ vu? Rinoa did the same too…she also led me to the dance floor…_"River, this isn't necessary, you don't have to make it up to me." Leon then took the lead and spun River around."Oh, no your not backing out of this dance, c'mon live a little Leon, after all the hard work you've done, you deserve a break, and besides the point you dance wonderfully." said River with a smile at which Leon smiled back.

"Wow, look at that River made Leon smile, look she even made him laugh." said Sora with surprise as he watched the two of them dance. "Yuffie what did you do?"

"Well, I just put an in a comment and River, decided to use it." Yuffie then looked around the ballroom and noticed that a few of the women were giving River jealous looks, while the others nodded knowingly with smiles of approval. "Well, it looks like part A of my plan worked, now for part B." Yuffie then turned to Aerith and Tifa and the three of them grinned.

* * *

_Hehe, boy this chapter took a while to write, the number 13 has always been a special number to me (I was born on a 13th, but thats besides the point), I don't know why it's special but it is. _

_Oh, for those who wonder what exactly Leon and the others are wearing at the ball, well just use your imagingation, I tend to leave out those kinds of details because its better for someone to image what they think would look amazing on a character than someone telling you what they are wearing. I just give the general sense as to what they are wearing and you can add the details._

_As to appearances, to be honest I picture Eryx to look like Vincent Valentine from FFVII (Vincent is the epitome of tall, dark, cool and handsome, in my opinion) and I picture Weiss to look like Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood, without the glasses of course (Abel is so silly sometimes and yet he has this darkness to him that just draws people in). _

_Anyways just an insight to my imagination, please review, I'd like to know if these two characters work, since they are major characters. _


	14. Chapter 14

_Sorry I usually update at least once a week and it just so happens that I got sick...Disclaimer is on my profile...enjoy!_

* * *

"Ready Merlin?" Yuffie then turned around to eye the wizard who had his wand out and nodded, she then turned back towards the dance floor to watch River and Leon as they made another circuit around the room.

"Yuffie…"

"Not now Cloud…Merlin on my mark…3…2…WHOA!" Cloud then swiftly caught Yuffie's arm and pulled her upright, "Thanks Cloudy, what was that?" The both of them looked down on the floor where they were standing and noticed a banana peel. "Isn't that a bit clichéd?"

"Yuffie, look where the peel is placed, its right next to the chair that River was sitting in."

"Hmm…even more incentive to continue with my plan." Yuffie then grinned and motioned to Aerith and Tifa who were standing by a pair of the balcony doors and the three of them all nodded with determination. Yuffie then turned to Sora, Donald and Goofy, who were all holding glasses of water; and nodded at them, at which Sora stuck out a thumb.

"Okay Merlin, you remember what to do right?" Merlin nodded and rolled back his sleeves. Yuffie then nodded towards Sora and he, Donald and Goofy all quickly poured their glasses on the dance floor and ran over to Yuffie.

"Okay we did it." Sora then stood next to Yuffie and watched as Leon and River passed by again. Just as the two of them were about to approach the area where Sora poured the water, Yuffie brought her arm down and Merlin cast a freezing spell on the water.

* * *

"What is this song, it just goes on and- WHOA!" River then slipped on the patch of ice and grasped tightly onto Leon's hand. Leon then quickly stooped down and caught River and balanced himself from falling. Leon quickly opened his eyes in surprise as he realized his lips were planted right on River's. He then straightened himself up and helped River up, who then ran off towards the balcony.

"River, wait!" Leon then took off after her, before he realized that the balcony doors behind him clicked shut, "What the…" He then tried to open the doors but they were locked. "Hey! Open the doors! Hey! –

"It's no use." Leon turned around at the voice and unsurely walked towards River who had her back towards him. "River, I…I…"

* * *

"Plan complete, the doors are locked and the two of them are alone." Yuffie then dusted her hands in satisfaction.

Aerith then smiled at Yuffie, "If only we could get you to be this excited about cleaning."

* * *

"It's alright Leon, I was taken aback with what happened that's all, and I'm sorry that I ran off." River then looked up at the sky and watched as a star grew bright then disappeared. She then began to laugh softy, "It's funny actually, how it seems that the others always want to leave the two of us together and here we are." She then turned around to face Leon with a sad grin.

"River…I need to tell you something…important…I-

"Leon, I know…I've known since that night you tried to get back into your room without waking me, I'm not her…and I'm not who you think I am." She then turned her back to Leon and gazed at the view.

Leon then quietly walked over to River and placed his arms around her waist, he pulled her close enough for her to feel his breath on her neck, "You remember this?" He then kissed the same area in which he removed that sliver; he then felt her shiver as he brushed some of her hair away from her neck.

"Leon…" He then left a trail of light kisses from her ear to her shoulder, "River, I-

"Don't say it! Leon, stop, just stop." River then pushed away from him, "Leon, I have to tell you something and I don't-mmph" Leon pulled her over and kissed her, at first she resisted the way in which his tongue would brush her lips, slowly she allowed him entrance, she moaned as he explored her mouth. Her hands slowly climbed up his chest and wound around his neck and into his hair. He suddenly grunted in pain, and pulled away from her as he realized that she pulled his hair.

"My my, Leon, I never knew you had this side to you."

"Who-

"Who am I you ask? Well, maybe that question is better directed at _River_" Weiss then appeared right next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders and leaned toward her ear, "Shouldn't you do more explaining, my dear Adria." River then shook him off her shoulders and stood next to Leon.

"Wait, you know him?" Leon looked questioningly at River who was glaring at the silver haired man.

"Yes, I know him; he's the one who started everything."

"Now, Adria don't go pointing fingers now, you knew the consequences-

"I knew them alright, you manipulated me, and you used us! You knew not to meddle in the other worlds, but you did, now look at what is happening. The keyblade masters had to be called!" River then walked over to the ledge and gripped the railing trying to calm herself down.

"I'll be around, call if you need me." Weiss then nodded to Leon and disappeared into a white portal

"…River?" Leon timidly called out to her as he approached, but she suddenly turned around and blasted the doors open with a wave of a hand, walking out of the stunned silent ballroom.

* * *

"How long has she been in there?" asked Sora as he poured some milk into a bowl of cereal

"Three days…" said a tired Leon as he approached the table

"Do ya think we should check on her?" asked Goofy

"That's it I've had it with your reluctance Leon, if you really do care for her you would have barged into her room three days ago." Yuffie then ran up the stairs and pounded on River's door.

"Yuffie!" called out Aerith, she then chased after Yuffie and the others followed.

* * *

"River, open the door!" Yuffie then tried the door knob to find it surprisingly open, "River, are you- who are you?!" Yuffie then pulled out her shuriken and stood in an attack position.

"Yuffie! Oh!" Aerith then backed away, while the others took their weapons out standing at the ready if the person in the black hooded cloak tried anything.

"It's alright I'll handle it." The person in the black cloak stood up from his embrace with River and stood in front of her, he then lowered his hood, earning gasps of surprise from Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Donald, Sora and Goofy.

"Your…that man from the ball, are you from the Organization?" asked Sora

"No…I do not work for Organization XIII, nor am I a threat to you."

"Eryx, it's alright, I'll tell them everything, and I owe it to them for their kindness." River then stood up and placed a hand on Eryx's arm, he then took a seat on her bed.

"Well, since everyone is here…I think it best if I start with who I am, my real name is Adria and this is Eryx." River then took a seat next to Eryx, who then took her hand and held it.

"Before there ever was such a thing called a keyblade, there were three who were chosen to guard Kingdom Hearts, one with the power of Light, once with the power of Darkness and the last one who was the Keeper of Hearts." River then sighed and nodded to Eryx who then continued.

"I have the power of Darkness, River is the Keeper of Hearts, and this man here is Weiss, he has the power of Light." Eryx then pulled out a photo and handed it to Sora who passed it around.

"When we were younger we experimented with our powers and found that they can be placed into a solid form, we experimented with many different items and found that an over large key was most suitable."

"At first we thought it was a joke to use such large keys until, I found out that they can also be used as weapons, we made many and as such there are many out there that people themselves can make. Sora may I?" River then got up and stood in front of Sora, he then placed his keyblade in her hands, she then examined the keyblade and gave it back to him.

"Yes, that keyblade was the first one that we made." River sat on her bed again and continued.

"Eventually as the years passed by many people would come to me and ask me to save their loved ones since I could release their hearts, at first I reluctantly helped them. Until there was a time when I realized that if someone were to gain access to Kingdom Hearts, many terrible things would happen. Many keyblade wars were fought and I decided that all this fighting needed to end."

"So, you got Weiss to help you?"

"Yes, that's right Leon. What basically happened was we three decided that if I was to give up the location of Kingdom Hearts, not one of us would meddle in other worlds. So that's what I did, my heart was broken into seven pieces and placed into seven princesses of light unknowingly."

"So your saying that, one of you messed with one of the worlds?" Cid then crossed his arms and grunted in disapproval.

"Yes, Weiss was the one who, woke the curiosity in Ansem the Wise, about the darkness in the heart, and that has lead to all this." said River sadly as she leaned towards Eryx who gave her a hug.

* * *

_Yep, this chapter is very wordy...anyways please review...I get like 884 hits and yet I only have 10 reviews, something doesn't add up right..._


	15. Chapter 15

_Okay...Chapter 15...Enjoy!_

* * *

"_Are you sure you want to do this? I never done this before so I don't know what will happen to you once your heart is gone, are you willing to risk that?"_

"_Yes, it's the only way…I don't see any other way for all this fighting to end, please Weiss."_

"_You don't have to do this, we can protect you."_

"_Eryx, how long will it be till there is peace? How long are you willing to keep this up? We can't keep on doing this forever, please, just promise me one thing." Adria then took Eryx's and __Weiss' hand in her's and looked them both in the eye, "Promise me that you both won't disrupt the worlds… that you won't lead anyone to look for Kingdom Hearts, no matter what happens to me."_

* * *

"_Adria? Adria can you hear me?"_

"…_Thank…you…"_

"_Adria! Adria answer me!" Eryx then lifted her head and looked into her lifeless eyes, he then turned to Weiss, "She won't wake up will she?"_

"…_no…I don't think so."_

* * *

"_Where are you going Weiss?"_

"_I can't let her stay like this; I can't live with the fact that she's just a lifeless doll, I'm leaving."_

"_NO! STOP! We promised her!"_

"_HOW CAN YOU JUST LET HER BE LIKE THIS?"_

"_She chose to do this; you have to respect her wishes! She wanted this!"_

"_Just listen to yourself, do you even believe what your saying__?!"_

"_I'm not happy about this either, but do you want her sacrifice to be in vain?" _

* * *

Eryx then woke with a start, sitting on his bed he ran his hand through his hair, sighing deeply and he got out of bed. He then looked out the window, seeing that it was still dark he then walked into his bathroom.

* * *

"_I'm sorry Eryx, about the ball I mean, I didn't recog__nize you then since I was slowly regaining my memories. When I woke up I didn't know where I was, all I could remember was to find the keyblade master." _thought Eryx as he remembered the discussion that he had with River when the others left the room. He then pulled on a pair of black slacks and a crisp white button down shirt. With a lift of his hand a black portal appeared and he stepped into it calmly and stepped out of it calmly into River's room, where she was still asleep. 

He walked over to her bed and sat on a corner, his weight slightly lifting her sleeping form. He brushed away some of her hair from her face and watched her sleep for a bit, noticing a silver heart-shaped object on her bedside table, he stood up and picked it up.

_This is Weiss' charm…what is she doing with it?_ He then walked over to the window, watching the sunrise and catching the first light bounce off of the small white diamond in the center of the charm, painting a bright burst of colours on the walls. He stood there letting the sun wash over him, unknowingly painting a portrait of a side of him that River had never seen before.

_Huh? Eryx, how did - __Wow, I never seen him looking like that, so thoughtful yet, there's this mysteriousness that he just emulates._ River then sat up and brought her knees toward her, placing her arms on top of her knees, with a smile she watched him pull out a black ribbon to tie his hair.

"Here, let me." Eryx then turned toward River with a surprised look on his face and his hands in the air; he then lowered them and calmly said in his deep voice: "Did I wake you?"

"No, I've been awake for a while now, come here." River then patted her bed motioning for him to take a seat. He walked over and sat down facing her; she then took the ribbon from his hands and pushed him around so that his back was toward her.

"You know you have really nice hair."

"I should cut it."

"What?! No, why would you want to do that, it's such beautiful hair. There, done, now turn around so I can see how you look." Eryx then stood up and faced her with a slight smile.

"Wow, you sure got the rugged look down…I'm joking, leave your shirt out, c'mon, leave it out. You look better with it not tucked in." River then giggled and got out of bed shaking her head at Eryx's bangs which draped over his eyes.

River then walked up to him and brushed away some of his bangs, "Why hide such wonderful eyes? There." Before she could bring her hand down, Eryx took it in his own and looked her in the eye, he then opened his mouth to say something, when the door opened and a voice said: "River? Are you up?"

"Oh, yes, what is it?"

"…Oh…I…I got you at a bad time, sorry." said Leon as he stepped back from the door upon seeing Eryx standing there holding River's hand and River standing there in her pajamas.

"No, no, please is there something that you wanted?" said River as she pulled away from Eryx.

"No, there was nothing, sorry to bother you." Leon quickly turned around and left, shutting the door.

"I wonder what that was about; I should go talk to him huh?" River then turned to Eryx, who looked back at her and stepped toward her taking her hand, placing an object in it and closing her fingers around it. He then quickly left her room without a word.

River then opened her hand to find a heart shaped pendant with two intricate keys crossed over each other and a black onyx stone in the center of the crossed keys.

* * *

"Thank you for allowing me to stay." said Eryx as he sat down at the breakfast table. 

"Oh, it's no problem, you were lucky that was the last room that I had in this house." Aerith then placed a glass of orange juice in front of him and smiled.

"Say, Eryx have you seen King Mickey or Riku, I mean since you know…you can travel in darkness…" asked Sora

"…I have not seen the King but I have met a boy about a year older than you."

"Really?! Did he have silver hair and turquoise eyes?"

"I believe that he did, he never told me his name but he wanted me to tell you that, 'He's doing all that he can and someday he will go back to the Island with you.'"

"It is him! Thank you so much. C'mon Donald, Goofy let's go." Sora then got out of his chair and ran towards the garage.

"Sora, what about-

"Thanks for breakfast Aerith! Tell everyone that we'll see them later okay?!" Aerith smiled and shook her head in disbelief at the three of them running off to other worlds without even a word of goodbye to the others.

"Sora ran off again?" Asked Leon as he took a seat across from Eryx.

"Yeah, Eryx here said that he met Riku and then suddenly Sora just ran out the door." said Yuffie between sips of coffee, "Hey Cloud, is Tifa coming with us?"

"She said that she will, but she will be meeting us later."

"What did I miss?" Everyone turned their head towards River who came down the stairs with a smile. She then took a glass from a cupboard and poured herself a glass of orange juice, noticing that everyone was watching her, she finally spoke out: "What's wrong?"

"Oh…sorry it's just that we were worried, after all that you told us…well…" Aerith then fiddled with the washcloth in her hands and looked nervous.

Suddenly River started laughing, at first it was only herself until it became contagious and everyone in the room began to laugh, "Oh…sorry, I just couldn't help it, everyone was so serious and the looks on your faces…but I am fine, your all fine with what I told you guys right?"

Aerith brightened and looked around the room at the others noticing that they were nodding with smiles on their faces, she then turned to River and said: "Yes, we're fine with what you told us, come and have a seat, I hope your hungry, and I made blueberry waffles."

* * *

"When are you going to tell her?" 

"What do you mean?" Leon then glanced at Cloud who strolled over to where he was standing.

"I may be blond, but I'm not blind or stupid Leon. Ever since that morning she came down the stairs, you've been watching her every move. It's so obvious that everyone pretty much knows, you can't take your eyes off of her." Cloud then patted Leon's shoulder and looked down at what was keeping his friend's attention.

Down in the Rose garden was River and Eryx sitting on the grass, River was making a daisy chain while she chatted with Eryx who had a thick book in his hands. Every so often River would lean back against Eryx or nudge him in the back when he didn't answer. Eryx would then glare at River, but it had little effect on her as she continued to chat, which brought a rare smile to Eryx's lips. She then placed a daisy chain on top of his head, and continued to add more daisies until he had a full crown of them, she then announced in a high pitched voice: "His royal daisy-ness, King Eryx of Daisyland!" Eryx then put down the book he was reading and turned around to face a smirking River who was trying hard not to laugh, he then took the crown off and suddenly without a word, he tackled her to the grass tickling her. Her laugher burst from her lips as she tried to get away from his hands but to no avail.

"Looks like their having fun…" Cloud then turned to gage Leon's reaction to the scene that was playing out before him. _He's trying to act cool, like this isn't bothering him._ Before Cloud could finish his train of thought, River's laugher stopped and Cloud turned back down to watch her and Eryx.

Looking carefully Cloud realized that River was lying on the grass breathing heavily with Eryx bent over her giving her a genuine smile and brushing her hair away from her face. Eryx then moved away from River and helped her up, brushing off bits of grass. He then bent down and picked up his book and the crown of daisies, brushing some of River's hair from her face he then placed the crown on her head. He then bent to whisper something in her ear, which caused her freeze on the spot, he then kissed her cheek. River looked back at him confused when she noticed the smirk that was playing on his lips, she then yelled out: "Eryx, I'm so going to get you for that!" She then chased after him yelling out curses.

"Well, their very close." noted Cloud, he then turned to Leon who was walking away silently.

* * *

"Is Leon all right? He seems more…withdrawn…than usual." Asked Aerith as she, Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa walked back to her house with the groceries. 

"Well, the last time I saw him he and River were talking together and he seemed really happy then, but now that you mention it he has become more withdrawn." said Tifa, "Cloud do you know why he's acting like this?"

"I think it has something to do with what relationship River has with Eryx, the last time I over heard the two of them talking, and River didn't have an immediate answer for Leon when he asked her what her relationship with Eryx was." Said Cloud as he adjusted the bags in his arms.

"Hey need some help?" called out River as she came out of a Merlin's house.

"Sure do!" Yuffie then came up to River and shoved over all her bags.

"Hey Yuffie, wait a minute what are you going to be carrying?" River then handed over half of what she had back to Yuffie who pouted and grudgingly took the bags.

"Have you guys seen Eryx or Leon? I haven't seen either of them since this morning."

"Actually, I think I saw Leon talking to Eryx this morning, they both went off some where." said Aerith she then looked apprehensive and added, "I hope their alright."

* * *

"Well, will you look at that, their talking about you two." Leon and Eryx both turned around and saw Weiss, who was leaning against a stone wall. 

"Weiss, what do you want?" said Eryx as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'd just like to join your 'man to man' chat, I think its time for me to do some explaining. Ah…and you must be the famous Squall…I mean _Leon_, a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, after all the heroics that I've seen you do for Ad-_River_, it's quite refreshing to meet the leader of the Hollow Bastian Restoration Committee."

"Wait you're the one who made the scaffolding fall. Why?" Asked Leon with a glare

"I wanted to awaken River's powers." said Weiss softly

"You could have killed her!"

Weiss then looked away in pain and quietly said, "I would never let any harm come to her…I love her."

* * *

_Whoa...okay maybe that bit wasn't that surprising...please review I know that some of you who read this insane fic of mine are shy or just too darned lazy to bother with reviewing...but blah...time for Author Randomness:_

_I love watching Doctor Who, the wonderfully quirky and handsome David Tennant plays 'the Doctor' and he travels in time on his 'spaceship' the TARDIS...for those that have no idea what I'm talking about just google Doctor Who...I'm not a total werido, ya know!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter 16... disclaimer is on my profile...enjoy!_

* * *

Eryx looked at Weiss through narrowed eyes and asked: "If you love her then why did you go against her wishes?"

"I missed her…I missed her presence…her spirit…I could never live with her as a doll…could honestly live on with her like that?"

"…No…" Eryx then turned around and opened a black portal and stepped into it, leaving Leon with Weiss.

Weiss turned towards Leon and sadly said: "The past is always certain, but the future is not." he then formed a white portal and disappeared, leaving Leon to ponder those words.

* * *

"Squall, are you up here?" 

"It's Leon…what is it?" Leon turned towards the voice and stepped back in shock, standing in front of him was Rinoa!

"…Rinoa? How?"

She then smiled and placed a finger on her lips, and stepped towards him, "Squall…I'm happy for you, but you have to tell her how you feel."

"But…I-

"Squall…how can you lose something when it's not even yours?" Rinoa gave him a warm smile and then disappeared….

"Leon! Leon! Wake up!"

"Huh?"

"Don't scare us like that." Yuffie then punched Leon's arm and gave him a big hug, she then turned to River, "I'm going to tell the others that he's up okay?" River then nodded and Yuffie left the room.

"How did I get here?" Leon sat up in the bed and realized that it wasn't his own room, but River's room.

"I found you on the ground unconscious and brought you here, Aerith is in the kitchen making you some soup." said River from her window; "anyways I just thought that it was appropriate to bring you to my room since, you've done the same for me."

"Oh…thanks…Rin-River…" Leon then pushed the blanket off his legs and motioned to stand up but River stopped him, she then took one of his hands and looked him in the eye, concern evident in her gaze.

"Leon, are you alright? You were muttering something while you were unconscious… and well…if you want to talk just let me know okay?" River then leaned toward him and gave him a hug. She then stood up and walked out of the room leaving a confused Leon sitting on her bed.

* * *

"We shouldn't be doing this, its wrong." whispered Tifa 

"I agree, so let me go." said Leon as he tried to shake off Yuffie and Aerith's grip on his wrists.

"No, Leon you're staying here and Tifa this is not wrong its just coincidence that's all." said Yuffie with a wink.

Aerith smiled and put a finger on her lips as she tugged Leon closer a bush that was near the two people walking down a path in the Rose garden.

* * *

"River…" 

"Hmm? What's up Eryx?" River then turned and began walking backwards smiling at Eryx while keeping at his pace, ignorant of the fact that she was about to bump into flowering blossom tree.

"Oww! Why didn't you warn me, Eryx?!" River then rubbed her spine and looked up at Eryx who was trying to suppress a smirk as he brushed some white blossoms off of River's hair.

"Sorry, I was distracted…" _By you_

"Distracted?! C'mon you big liar this _evil_ tree was right behind me!"

"This tree is hardly evil." said Eryx with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, at which River glared at him.

"So…what did you want to talk about?" River carefully leaned against the 'evil' tree, waiting for Eryx's reply. He stood there for a moment looking at River, and then unexpectedly he stepped closer towards her and brushed a stray blossom from her hair.

Eryx brushed some of her bangs away and looked her in the eye, "Do you remember what I said to you when we were at that field?"

"Yes…but what's wrong?"

"I meant what I said."

"What? You mean the part about me being a-

"No, not that part…River, I should have told you this earlier, but…I love you."

"I knew it." whispered Yuffie

"Shhh! River is going to say something."

"…Eryx…I love you too…but…"

"But?"

"I realized that this love is different from yours……I'm sorry…I'm sorry that I can't love you in the way that you do…I'm…sorry" River then broke down in tears, slowly sliding down to the base of the tree.

Eryx then sat down and pulled a sobbing River towards his chest, "I'm sorry, for hurting you."

"…No…I'm sorry, River…I knew that I was too late, but I…I do still love you, your still my annoyingly playful light in this world." River looked up at Eryx's smiling face and gave him a forced smile, he then brushed her tears away and suddenly in a stern voice he said: "That is not a smile, I want a real one."

River then hid her face from him and muffled: "I can't."

"You can't or you won't?" Eryx then began to tickle her; she squirmed and shook trying to stop herself from laughing.

"NO! HAHAHA, STOP! STOP! OKAY I WILL!" River then popped her head up and stuck her tongue out and then hid back in his arms.

"That wasn't a smile, you cheeky girl." Eryx then began to tickle her again.

* * *

Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie turned with large grins plastered on their faces towards Leon, who was slumped on the ground in surprise to what he just heard.

* * *

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" 

"Let's see…first things first we know for sure that Leon has totally fallen for her and secondly we now know her relationship with Eryx is not romantic. So, now all we got to do is bring the two together." said Aerith with a smile

"But how do we do that, Leon is one stubborn man, and River is as clueless as Goofy sometimes." said Yuffie as she scooped up some ice cream in her Root Beer float.

"Well, I guess we're going to have to make sure that River spends more time with Leon, than anyone else." said Tifa offhandedly as she flipped a page in the magazine that she was reading.

"That's it! Tifa you're a genius, once the two of them spend more time together, Leon will eventually tell her and she will accept and Leon will be pretty happy that we intervened."

Aerith looked over at Yuffie skeptically, "Yuffie, we can't just assume that River will reciprocate, what would happen if she didn't?"

"Oh…I didn't think of that…then what are we going to do? Leon is a good person and all but he needs a life besides the reconstruction and the memories of guilt that he has of that day." said a down cast Yuffie.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see how things go, look outside." Tifa then pointed out the window, out in the square was River and Leon strolling around looking at the various items displayed by different merchants. River pulled Leon with her to a stall selling various masks and placed a clown mask on Leon's face in which he picked up a marionette mask and placed it on her face, the both of them laughing at each other.

"Ya know I don't think we really need to interfere." said Yuffie with a smile as she watched River and Leon head over to the Great Maw.

* * *

"This is so beautiful…" gasped River as she watched the last rays of the sun disappear behind a cliff 

"Yes it is." smiled Leon as he watched River gaze in amazement at the sky as the stars slowly twinkled into life.

"I had a wonderful time today, thank you Leon."

"It's Squall…"

"What?" River looked at Leon in confusion

"My real name is Squall…I took up the name of Leon because I was weak…I couldn't save…her." Leon then turned away from River and looked up at the stars that blinked back at him.

"Oh…but, you know…I think she would have wanted it like this." Leon turned toward River in surprise; she then gave him a soft smile and continued: "Leon…I think I understand why she did it…she was looking at all the possibilities and that was the best possible one. And I don't think that she would have wanted you to blame yourself or feel guilty that you couldn't do anything."

Leon silently gazed off in thought, letting a comfortable silence blanket the two of them, hearing rustle of River getting up, he broke the silence, "Stay with me?"

River turned to see that Leon was gazing at her with warm eyes, "Please?"

She then smiled and nodded her head, sitting back down next to him and laying back on the ground gazing at the stars. He then followed suit and then sighed, "…Thank you…you look so much like her…and yet you're different." She turned her head looking at Leon with wide eyes.

"River…I think…I'm in love with you…" Leon then turned to look at River, and was slightly taken aback with the shocked look on her face.

"…Leon…I…" River then closed her eyes and opened them again; she then sat up and turned away from him, "…I don't think that we should start anything that won't last."

Leon then sat up and turned River so that he looked her in the eye, "River, I can't stop thinking about you…please give us a chance."

River then pulled away from Leon, she then stood up stiffly, ignoring Leon who slumped down in defeat and headed toward the Crystal Fissure, she then stopped and without turning around said: "C'mon the others are waiting for us; I want them to meet my boyfriend."

* * *

_Thank you Shrouded-obsession, Biskitty and Micro Magic for your wonderful reviews...it's a pleasure to read reviews, for a second I was afraid that no one was actually reading this fic of mine...I'm thinking of ending it at this...what do YOU think?_


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter 17...disclaimer on my profile...enjoy!_

* * *

He cracked open an eye, and quickly closed it from the sunlight that hit his face, and quickly covered his head with his sheets.

"C'mon, sleepyhead it's already morning." River then tugged on the sheet that covered Leon's head, when he didn't relinquish the sheet, she climbed on top of him and straddled his stomach. She then bent down and whispered seductively, "Don't you want your morning wake up kiss?"

At that Leon's head popped out of the sheets, hair all mussed and with an eager look on his face. River then giggled and then punched his chest, causing Leon to flop back on his bed out of breath, she then moved to get off of him, when he suddenly flipped her, so that she was lying on his bed and he was hovering above her propping both of his hands on either side of her head.

He then bent close to her surprised face and growled, "Where's my kiss?"

"Kiss? What kiss?" said River innocently, she then started to draw designs on his chest with a finger. Leon then bent further so that his lips were mere inches away from her lips, "You promised me one every morning."

She then pulled him toward her and kissed him passionately, when she suddenly nibbled a bit too hard on his lower lip and he pulled away, "You…you…"

"Yes?" said Leon as innocently as possible, but the innocence was lost on River as she noticed the predatory gleam in his eyes and the smirk that was playing on his lips.

"Get that smirk off your face I know what you're playing at and I'm not going to go along with it." She then slipped out of his embrace and stood in front of him with her arms crossed, holding a pillow in one hand and looking at Leon suspiciously.

"You know that you want to go along with it." Leon then smirked and sat up in his bed stretching languidly.

"Just get up." River then threw the pillow at Leon's chest and left his room with a smile on her face.

* * *

"I see that you finally decided to come down for breakfast Mr. Leonhart." Aerith said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, after a nice wake up call, I'd say that I'm as hungry as a Lion." said Leon with a grin towards River, he then pulled a chair and sat down across from her.

"Oh, that's good I think I made too many…since Sora and the others aren't here." Aerith then placed a stack full of barley pancakes in front of Leon and placed the pan in the sink.

Just as Aerith was about to take a seat, Eryx suddenly appeared right next to River, startling everyone in the room, "River, something is-

"Ding Dong" Everyone turned to the door wondering who it could be, Aerith stood up and walked over to the door.

"Oh…"

"Good morning, Miss Aerith Gainsborough, may I come in?"

"Um…sure we were just having breakfast."

Everyone's eyes were trained on the hallway, listening to Aerith's conversation with the stranger and their foot steps as they approached the kitchen.

"I don't mean to be rude, but did you attend the ball?"

"Why, yes I did, I must say it was a success…don't you think so River?" said Weiss as he entered the kitchen, taking in his surroundings and removing a pair of round rimmed glasses that was his 'disguise'.

"Weiss, what do you want?" said River as she stood up glaring daggers at the angelic faced man. Surprised faces in the room looked from River to Weiss to Eryx and back to River.

"My, Miss Gainsborough I must say this is wonderful house." Weiss then smiled at a surprised Aerith.

"Yo, asshole, she asked you a question." said Cid with a sneer

"No need to be rude, Mr. Highwind." said Weiss in an icy tone, he then turned to River and looked at her warmly, "River, I think you know why I'm here, as do you Eryx. Well, if you need me, you know what to do, goodbye my dear."

Weiss then bowed to Aerith with a friendly smile and disappeared into a white portal. The lingering silence was suddenly broken by River collapsing into Eryx's arms as he caught her before she hit the floor.

* * *

"Is she going to be alright?"

"I'm not sure Leon, she's breathing and her heart beat is fine, but I just can't seem to figure out what caused her to collapse." Merlin then scratched his head in confusion and continued to search through a large dusty book as he left the room.

"She will be fine." said Eryx as he appeared next to Leon and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Leon turned toward Eryx and stood up from River's bed and allowing Eryx to take his spot and watch River sleep.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"…I think you should ask her when she wakes…Leon…" said Eryx uncertainly, he then turned his blood red eyes toward Leon and stood up. "Thank you." _For giving her hope_

"What?" Eryx then disappeared before Leon could question him further.

"…Leon?"

"River, are you alright?" Leon quickly sat down on River's bed and took her hand and brushed her hair away from her eyes.

"I'm…fine, just…tired…was Eryx just here?" She then propped herself up and leaned against the headboard.

"Yeah, he was...River are you hiding something from me again? It's not that I don't trust you but after all this time, I still get the feeling that you are keeping something from me."

"…Leon…I…" River then turned away from Leon's concerned gaze, letting a curtain of her hair to cover her face. He then moved closer to her and brushed her hair from her face, seeing a single tear roll down her face, he brushed it away and pulled her close to him, "It's alright...you can tell me."

She then pulled away from him and got up from her bed, she then turned around and gave him a sad smile, "Leon, I have to go."

"What do you mean?" Leon then stood up and looked her in the eye.

"…Le- Squall…" she then closed her eyes and took at deep breath, "I can't stay…Kingdom Hearts is in danger, I have to leave."

"Why?"

"Leon…I was chosen as the Keeper of Hearts, I can't just-

Leon then swiftly came up to her and kissed her before she could continue. When they broke apart, Leon pulled away from her shocked, he blinked and slowly brought his hand up to her face and caressed her cheek, "…Rinoa?"

* * *

_Okay, okay...I decided not to end it there, it seemed awkward and abrupt to just leave it at: "meet my boyfriend." _

_Yes, another cliff hanger... honestly I think this chapter is iffy, but whatever I want to know what YOU think..._

_Now it's time for Author Randomness #2: I love watching football (no, not American football, honestly why call it football when you use your hands to hold the ball? They should call it handball.) anyways... it just so happens that the FIFA Under 20 World Cup is on... so check it out! Go Canada! Go Japan! (Go Makino! That guy is a really good defence man and he has krazy red hair! LOL!)_


	18. Chapter 18

_Hey there! Chapter 18, Disclaimer is on my profile, Enjoy!_

* * *

"What?" asked River who looked at Leon with surprise.

"…sorry…I thought…" _I saw you Rinoa…It can't be… maybe…no_

"Leon are you alright? Just a moment ago you looked like you just saw a ghost."

Leon then suddenly grasped River's arms firmly and looked her in the eye, "Have all your memories returned?"

"My memories?" said a puzzled River, "Well…I don't know…I feel like I'm missing something but I just can't put my finger on it."

"Are you sure?"

"Ouch, Leon I'm sure, but if you don't loosen your grip I think I'll lose my arms."

"Sorry…" Leon then quickly let go of her arms and stepped back from her, "please don't-

"SORA! YOU'RE BACK!" River and Leon both looked out the open window and saw Sora, Donald and Goofy running towards Yuffie with grim looks on their faces. River then left the room, without a word causing Leon to chase after her.

"Where's…River…and…Leon?!" said a breathless Sora

"Sora, what's wrong? Take a seat, you need to catch your breath, c'mon you two take a seat." said Aerith as she motioned to Donald and Goofy to take a seat.

"I…need to find River and Leon, Kingdom Hearts…"

"Sora, what's wrong?" asked River as she suddenly came running into the kitchen, followed by Leon.

"The Organization is planning to take over Kingdom Hearts!" Everyone in the room fell silent with their mouth's open like goldfish.

"What are they planning to do?" River then took a seat and looked at Sora

"The want to be whole again." said Sora

"…I see…" River suddenly clutched her chest, causing Leon to rush over with concern openly shown on his face.

"River, what's wrong?!" Leon then lifted her head up and looked her in the eye, he then suddenly backed off.

"Leon, what-"

Suddenly a bright purple glow erupted from River and totally engulfed her. Everyone in the room closed their eyes as the glow became brighter to the point of blinding; as soon as the light appeared it disappeared just as fast, leaving River slumped on the floor.

"River!" called out Leon, as he fell to the floor shaking River, "River, please wake up!"

"It's no use, she has to leave."

"Weiss! Wake her up!" growled Leon, he then stood up and charged at the angelic faced man, but instead of hitting him, his gunblade went clean through him as if the man he just charged at was a hologram.

"Terribly sorry, _Leon_, but she _has_ to go back." He then bent down and lifted River bridal style.

"Weiss let her say goodbye."

"Eryx, she's not conscious-

"…Squall…" she then slowly opened her eyes and looked at Leon; he then stepped closer to her.

"Don't…cry…I will always be…your wings…" she then closed her eyes, and her hand fell limp from Leon's cheek, pulling with it a tear that fell from his eyes as he backed away from her.

Eryx then formed a portal with his hand and Weiss entered it without a word, he then followed, but before he closed the portal he turned to Leon and muttered: "I'm sorry."

* * *

_Yes, I know it's really short...but hey, I've been busy with my two new fics (check 'em out, their posted already)._

_Anyways...please review, thanks in advance to those that do!_


	19. Chapter 19

_Here ya go, Chapter 19, disclaimer is on my profile, enjoy!_

* * *

"_No…__River! Don't…"_

"…_Squall__, I will always be your wings, trust me I will come back."_

"_Rinoa__?"_

"_Leon__"_

"_River?"_

"_Leon"_

"Leon"

"Leon! Wake up!" yelled Yuffie as she shook him.

Leon suddenly sat up in his bed with sweat on his forehead, and breathing erratically as if he was running from something than sleeping. He turned to Yuffie who, took at step back at the panicked gleam from his eyes. His eyes then focused and he let out a shuddering breath, "It happened again didn't it?"

Aerith then came forwards offering a glass of water to him, "…yes, here drink this."

He gladly took the glass and drank it all in one gulp, passing the glass back to Aerith's open hand, he then ran his fingers through his mussed up hair, "Thank you, I'll be fine."

"Okay, everyone will be downstairs." Aerith then shuffled Yuffie out of the room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

_What is wrong with me? Ever since that __Day River left, I've been having these…dreams; it's always the same…_Leon then stepped into his bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face, he then muttered, "What's happening to me?"

* * *

"Is he going to be alright?" said a concerned Tifa as she took her seat next to Yuffie 

"I have no idea, ever since River left he has been yelling in his sleep, calling for River some nights and other nights it's Rinoa." said Aerith sadly, she then turned to Cloud watching him pour some syrup on his pancakes he then looked back at her and placed the syrup back on the table.

"I don't know if it will help, but I'll talk to him."

* * *

"Hey." 

"Hey, you alright?" said Cloud as walked over to Leon who leaned on a railing overlooking Radiant Garden.

"I don't know…" Cloud then glanced at Leon who suddenly sighed and straightened up, and stretched his arms.

"How long?"

"What?" said a puzzled Leon

"How long has she been gone?"

"…three weeks, I think…"

"_Leon…"_

Suddenly, Leon looked around himself as if searching for something, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Cloud then looked around himself and turned to Leon with a questioning look on his face.

"_Squall…"_

"THAT!" Leon then looked around himself again, he then stopped and stood rooted to his spot, as a few glowing orbs suddenly began to gather in two areas. The orbs suddenly grew brighter as two forms materialized, and floating and glowing right in front of him, was River and Rinoa!

The two women, smiled at the same time and spoke at the same time in the same voice, _"Squall…"_

"_I love you."_ said River and Rinoa as they began to drift towards each other.

Suddenly a bright light swallowed the two women as they approached each other, just before Leon closed his eyes from the blinding glow, he watched as the silhouette of one woman spoke to him, _"I will always be your wings…"_

"_Leon"_

"_Leon"_

"_Leon"_

"Leon"

"Hey, hey he's coming to."

"…ugh…Rinoa! River!" said Leon as he sprang up from the bed he was lying in, Aerith then put a comforting hand on his shoulder, startling him. He then blinked and lay back down with a wince, "What happened? Where are they?!"

"Cloud, would you care to explain?" Tifa then crossed her arms, and looked expectantly at him.

Cloud then shuffled over to where, everyone was huddling around Leon, "you lost consciousness."

"What? But-

Cloud then put up a hand and continued, "You were talking to me about some voice and suddenly you just stop speaking and hit the ground."

"Thanks for catching me." said Leon sarcastically, he then rubbed the back of his head, while the others smiled with amusement and relief.

* * *

"How's he doing?" asked Sora 

"I think he's better, considering how he has been acting lately, it seems that he is back to absorbing himself in the reconstruction." said Aerith with a slight smile

"So, he's going to be fine?" asked Donald

"Oh, don't worry, he'll be fine, we'll watch over him." said Yuffie with a wink, "now go defeat the Organization, we're counting on you!"

"You bet! We'll stop them!" Sora, Donald and Goofy waved and ran off towards their gummy ship.

"Be careful, and good luck." whispered Aerith as she watched Sora take off.

* * *

_Hey there, I know this is another short chapter and the reason is that the dark looming ending is very very very near (as in the next chapter). _

_Anyways, please review, let's see...if I can get at least **4 reviews** for this chapter within this week I **will** post up the last chapter. Only **4** reviews that can't be too much to ask for considering how many hits and what not..._


	20. Chapter 20

_Alright, congratulations Rinny87, your are the fourth reviewer for chapter 19! Anyways disclaimer is on my profile, Finally, the last Chapter, enjoy!_

* * *

"You still have those dreams?" 

"What?" Leon then turned around and looked questioningly at Cloud.

"I said: do you still have those dreams?"

"No…they have stopped."

"Good…"

"Do think that Sora is back home?"

"Probably, there's rarely any heartless here."

"Hey! Cloudy! Leon!" Both the men turned around at the call of Yuffie's voice, she then ran over to the two of them with something in her hands.

"Don't call me that, Yuffie." said an annoyed Cloud

"I can call you what I want, Cloudy." She then stuck her tongue out at him, before he could argue, Leon stepped in and asked: "What do you want?"

"You're so mean, Squall!"

"That's Leon."

"Fine, humph…this came in today, there was no name on it but just this symbol on it, and well it probably is for you. C'mon Cloudy, Aerith made some fresh cookies." Yuffie then gave Leon the envelope with a wink, and dragged Cloud off before he could protest.

Leon shook his head in exasperation at Yuffie's antics and turned to the envelope, it was made of heavy ochre parchment and on the front was the same red winged symbol that was on the back of his fur collared jacket that he was wearing. He then took a seat on the ledge of the stone wall the he was standing on and he flipped the envelope around and opened it.

He pulled out a folded piece of parchment, and unfolded it, as he read it his eyes widened; written in a delicate hand, it read:

_Dear Squall,_

_I know that you miss me just as much as I do; I hope that you are taking as much care of yourself as you do for the others. _

_Right now, Kingdom Hearts is safe, thanks to the help of the chosen keyblade masters: Sora, Riku and Kairi. I assure you that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are all well and they will have returned home safely, by the time you get this letter. There is still much to do, I assume that it is the same with Radiant Garden. _

_I'm sorry that I couldn't send word to you before, I found myself drifting, having lost much of what I had but I gained more from all that has happened. Please wait for me, I will come back to you and be your wings._

_With all the love that cannot be expressed in words,_

_R._

Leon then looked up at the clear blue sky and with a smile, he thought: _I will wait for a bit longer then…_

_**Fin**_

* * *

_I would like to thank the following people for taking the courage and effort of reviewing: shrouded-obsession, Micro Magic, Biskitty, BabemRoze, and Rinny87. Also I would like to thank those of you out there that read this fic. __Gosh, I sound like I'm at the Academy Awards, LOL_

_Anyways, if you were wondering who actually wrote the letter, well...that's for you to decide... I hope you enjoyed this as much as I had writing it. As for what I'm up to now that this is done...check out my profile. _

_Have a nice day/night/evening/morning/dawn/whatever time zone your in. _


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